Secrets of the Deep
by H2O4ever
Summary: Avery fit right in at The Gold Coast, considering she herself is a mermaid. But who really knows anything about Avery? Who are her parents? Where did she previously live? Is Avery really who she says she is?
1. Introduction to my Story

**A/N: Ah, the weekend. To celebrate no school for two whole days, I'm starting this story. Do you think it will be good? Comment on what you think. By the way, lately I've been having some Internet problems, so if I haven't updated in a while, don't scream and panic and run around in circles, screaming like a mad man. Please just assume my Internet is down, and I can't update for a while (then resume panicking and screaming and running around in circles with your arms flailing.) This chapter will just be an intro, you know, about the characters and all that crap.**

Introduction To My Story

Avery Peacock: Bold and not afraid of anything, Avery has survived the toughest times. But who knows where she last lived? What about her family? Where does she live now? Does anyone really know _anything_ about Avery?

Cleo Sertori: Starting out shy and timid, Cleo has come out of her shell and opened up to Avery as a new addition of their "group." But did Cleo first feel _threatened_ by her?

Rikki Chadwick: Rikki seems to have the most in common with Avery, but Avery thinks otherwise. Can Rikki help Avery out and discover her secrets of the past, or will they be buried forever?

Emma Gilbert: Responsible and always taking charge, Emma hasn't changed a bit. But Emma even thinks something is up with Avery, besides being oblivious to everything. Will Emma get _too_ involved with finding out Avery's secret?

Lewis McCartney, Zane Bennett, and Ash Dove: Boyfriends of the girls, they protect them from the dangers of water. But they don't understand that some things just can't be prevented.

Time Story Takes Place: Right after season two.

Summary: Avery enjoys hanging out with Cleo, Emma and Rikki as a mermaid, too. But it seems no one knows anything about her. Questions swarm about who Avery _really_ is. As it turns out, Avery is not who she says she is.

**A/N: Do you think I should continue? Review on what you think!**


	2. My Life

**A/N: Now it's ON! First chapter! Hope you like it! Oh, yeah, I also set it so anonymous people can review too. Why should they get left out just 'cause they don't have an account? BTW, I made a trailer on YouTube. The URL is:**

**.com/watch?v=BcvVrJekkEI**

**Why did I make one? 'Cause I felt like it. **

**Thanks to Marril96, tyrone beard, and H2OGirl101 for telling me I should continue. Thanks! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own H2O. I only own the characters I make up.**

**Chapter 1: My Life**

Saturday

_A chill ran through my spine as I was taken by the hand out to the sea. The angry buzz of people weren't far behind, so we knew we had to hurry._

"_Come, we have to go!" she called, practically dragging me to the shoreline. But I didn't want to go_._ How could I leave it behind?_

"_Go!" she shouted, pushing me into the ocean, just as the salt water stung my eyes, just as I was swept out into sea, and just as I saw my mother being hauled away._

I gasped, sitting straight upright in bed. The morning silence was the only thing to be heard, that and the annoying ticking of my neighbor's clock.

I looked at my cheap purple plastic watch. 6:14 a.m. I sighed and counted the seconds in my head. At exactly 6:15, the neighbor's alarm clock went off in a loud ring that echoed off the walls and was sure to wake up everyone else in the apartment.

His irritating clock was the usual thing to wake me up in the morning. But this time my dream had wakened me up this time. I shuddered, not wanting to revisit it again.

I pulled on some uncomfortably stiff jeans and a short sleeved shirt with the words "THE GOLD COAST" printed across in gold lettering that I had bought from a low-priced stand.

I ran a comb through my hair, not bothering to shower. I didn't want to waste too much hot water. I didn't have that much. Plus, I'd have to take long to get dry again. So what good would a shower do?

I stepped out of the apartment building, briefly saying hi to Shane, the doorman. Shane was my favorite doorman, because he didn't just grunt or even not say anything like some of the other doormen that worked there. I also thought he was sort of cute, but that's between you and me.

"Hello, Avery!" he called. "Have a nice day!"

I nodded and replied before heading to the JuiceNet for my shift on this fine Saturday morning. Emma had given me the job at the JuiceNet when I'd asked.

While walking, I thought about dreams. Not my dream (I didn't want to think about that dream) but dreams in general. How did they project? How did they create pictures in your mind? How did they work? I am a very curious person sometimes.

I walked into the JuiceNet to find the noisy costumers quite refreshing. I said hi to Emma and grabbed my apron off the hook. Emma handed me a notepad, and I said, "Thanks."

I rushed around, taking orders. While rushing, I thought about my powers.

_Powers. _Yes, I said powers. It came with being a mermaid. Yep, I also said mermaid. Powers and mermaid, you heard me right.

I have two powers and one "ability." I don't like to call my ability a power, because technically it isn't a power.

First, I can project any image or video. All I do is put out my hand like Emma does when she wants to freeze things—like a little stop sign—and think of what I want. That is instantly projected onto a wall or anything I'm facing. I can also surf the web, which I think is insanely cool. I also can watch TV or movies, even if I haven't seen the movie or episode before. That works out well considering I do not have a television or computer.

My other power is that I have telekinesis. I'm not kidding. With a simple twist of my hand, I can have any object move or float, including water and wind like Cleo can do. It really helps me when I'm sitting down and don't want to get up to get something, and I just have it float to me (in private, of course.)

My ability is my fingernails. Now, you're probably like, "What? Her _fingernails_? Doesn't everyone have fingernails?"

But mine are special. I always have fingernail polish on them, but I don't paint the colors on. They just appear according to my mood. Yes, people sometimes get suspicious when they see my nails and they have yellow polish on them, then look away for a few minutes, and when they see them again they're red. But I'm good at keeping them a secret and covering them up. These are pretty much the colors and moods, and unless I haven't felt a certain kind of emotion yet, they're the only ones:

Yellow—Happy

Red—Angry

Dark Blue—Sad Light Blue—Calm

Green—Curious

Light Pink—Compassion

Hot Pink—Embarrassed

Black—Daring

Purple—Confused

Magenta—Embarrassed

Orange—Mixed Emotions

Brown—Deep in Thought

Who knows? There might be more to come.

I served my last costumer of the day a mango juice, and then I took off my apron and sat with the guys, meaning Cleo, Rikki, Emma, and Lewis.

"What's up?" I asked, sitting down.

"Nothing much," said Emma.

As they talked, I let my mind wonder back to my dream. It was so…weird. It was almost like a play-by-play video of about a year ago.

I shuddered. No way was I reliving _that_.

"What do you think, Avery?" Cleo asked me.

"What?" I said, snapping out of my present state.

Cleo repeated her question.

"Swim?" I said, like I'd forgotten what those four words meant. I let her question soak in, and smiled. "Swim. A swim, I'd love that."

So we all headed down to the beach. When we'd made sure no one was there, I tucked a piece of my wild red hair behind my ear and cried, "Last one in is a rotten mermaid!"

The others giggled as they followed my run into the crystal clear ocean. I dived in, and was surprised how cold the water was. I felt my legs morph, and suddenly in place of them was a long, bronze tail.

We all laughed (if you _can_ laugh underwater) as we zipped in between the coral reefs. Cleo pointed in the direction of Mako, in which we all eagerly nodded. Mako was the favorite of our hideaways.

We all surfaced in Mako, laughing. Emma gazed up and said dreamily, "It's so pretty today."

Rikki laughed. "You say that every day."

"That's because it's pretty every day." She paused. "Hey, Cleo and Rikki, do you remember when we first turned into mermaids here?"

"Of course!" Cleo said. "I will never forget."

Rikki wore a puzzled mask as she checked an imaginary watch on her wrist. "When was that? Friday? Saturday?"

Emma and Cleo laughed. "So, Avery, you never told us: where did you change?"

"Uh," I said, trying to come up with an explanation. "Not far from here."

"What city?" Rikki asked.

I checked my imaginary watch, too. "Oh, would you look at the time! I have to run. I'm expecting a very important phone call. Bye," I said in one breath, and ducked under.

Once I was able to get my legs back, as if on cue, my phone rang. I opened it and pressed the "_Receive_" button. I held it eagerly to my ear. The first words to come tumbling out of my mouth were, "Hi, Feglio. How's she doing?"

"Fine," he answered. His accent boomed. "How are you?"

"Alright," I said cautiously, looking around. "Great. Fantastic."

"You still won't tell me where you are, will you?" he asked.

"Nope, and I intend to keep it that way." I looked up to see Ash hurrying towards me.

"Listen, I have to go," I said, lowering my voice. He replied with a, "Bye, take care of yourself!" and hung up.

"Hey Ash," I said. "Looking for Emma?"

"Yeah," he nodded with his words. "Where is she?"

"We were out swimming by Mako," I said.

"But what if there are people there?" he asked. "Couldn't you guys have been caught?"

I rolled my eyes. "Please, Ash, we've handled this before. Give us some credit." I turned to go.

"Wait." He grabbed my shoulder. "One more question, then I'll let you go."

"What is it?" I asked impatiently. I wanted to head home to watch this one movie that was still in theaters—with my powers, of course.

"Who were you on the phone with?" Ash asked.

I wouldn't meet his eyes. "No one," I replied briskly. I shook off his grip and walked away.

**A/N: Why is Avery acting suspicious? What's she hiding? Who is this "Feglio", and why does he have such a funny name? I wonder…well, truthfully, I'm not wondering, because I already know! Next chapter up soon, I promise!**


	3. Confusing Lunch

**A/N: Here's more of the story! And wow, I've been getting a lot of reviews for this story! I guess it's a good story line. Thanks to the people who reviewed (you know who you are! :)) and to the people who read.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own H2O.**

Chapter 2: Confusing Lunch

_Sunday_

I sat down on my bed and held out my hand. A dim projection showed up on the wall.

"Come _on_," I said, and tried harder. I was going to go on the Internet and check my email with my powers.

The screen flashed, and then showed up again, brighter and bigger. I smiled widely and checked my email.

I put down my hand and checked my watch. 12:46 p.m. My cell phone rang, and I checked it. It was a text message from Cleo. It said:

_We're at the JuiceNet. Having lunch there—they're serving hot dogs one day only! Come over!_

_3 Cleo 3_

I smiled. Of course I already knew about the one-day-only hot dog deal, considering I worked there. I got up from the bed and carefully smoothed the bedspread. I turned the rusted doorknob of my door and headed out.

"Avery?" someone called down the corridor. I turned. It was Ms. Ramsey. Ms. Linda Ramsey was a woman in her forties that lived a floor down from me. Her husband left her not long ago, so she was left to take care of her two kids alone.

"Avery, dear, could you please baby sit Jack and Amber on Thursday from four o'clock to eight o'clock? You'd have to feed them dinner, and you're welcome to have some if your hungry. I got Mr. Ship to give me one of his special casseroles."

My stomach grumbled. His casseroles were the _best._ "Sure, I'd be happy to, Ms. Ramsey."

"Thank you, dear." With that, I headed away.

I said hi to Shane the doorman again, and headed the direction of the JuiceNet. There, she sat with her friends.

When the waiter came around to order our drinks and hot dogs, I didn't get anything. I told my friends I didn't bring any money.

"Well, what did you think we'd be doing? Staring at people while they eat?" Cleo joked. I smiled wearily, not telling them the truth as to why I didn't bring money.

"I'll get you something," Lewis volunteered.

"Really, Lewis, you don't have to," I insisted. "I'm not that hungry." Right then my stomach growled. I scowled at my stomach traitor.

He laughed, and ordered for me; despite the threats of dirty looks I'd give him. When my food arrived, I also threatened to throw it at his face, even though I was already gnawing on a chip.

I ate quicker than anyone. After endless waiting for them to finish while stroking my favorite necklace that I always wore, I gave up. I told them 'bye,' and left.

I went to the dock right outside the JuiceNet, and met Zane working on his boat with Nate.

"Hey, Zane," I said. He nodded, and jumped off his boat to greet me. "Hey…Ned? Sorry," I said, looking at Nate. Nate was one of those guys to hit on every pretty girl, and Nate always hit on me. It got _so_ annoying. If he was going to be that way, why didn't I have a little fun with it?

"Nate," he corrected. He jumped off too, and said, "You know what would make that face even prettier? A guy beside it." Nate stepped by me and put an arm around my shoulders.

"Good idea," I said, taking a step back. "How about I go contact Zac Efron?"

"I was thinking more along the lines of Nate," he said, stepping closer. My anger boiled up to a high. There was a point where I just blew up.

"Nate, why don't you go drown in the ocean along with any hope that you'll get a girlfriend?" I asked, and pushed him into the ocean.

He came up, coughing and sputtering. "That wasn't necessary!" cried Nate.

I doubled over laughing. "Oh, please! That was classic!" When I stopped laughing, and wiped away the humorous tears that were sliding down my cheeks, I straightened up. "Can you do me a favor Zane?" I asked.

"What?" he asked cautiously.

"Can you tell the girls I have to cancel our swim on Thursday? I have to baby-sit, and I can't tell the girls because I'm already heading to…" I peered at Nate, pulling himself up into Zane's boat. I lowered my voice and said like it was some big FBI secret, "Mako."

He sighed. "I really don't like you girls hanging around Mako. What if something were to happen?" he asked. "I could never forgive myself!"

I threw back my head and laughed. "Listen here, drama queen. We mermaids with our super and incredible powers can take care of ourselves, thank you very much. Zane, sometimes you can be worse than Ash!"

Just then a surge of water hit Zane and me. I turned to see that the culprit was no other than Nate, sitting in Zane's boat, grinning widely as if he'd just won the lottery.

"Oh, I'm sorry Nate," I said. "I didn't know you wanted to be Barney for Halloween." I put my hand in a fist and punched my other hand. "You'll have a nose to match your costume when I'm through with you!"

"Right now we have bigger things to worry about," Zane said, and in one motion, he pushed me off the edge of the deck and I splashed into the water.

I wanted to scream at him. What the heck did he think he was doing? Then I realized it. Zane was trying to protect me from getting my secret blown. I guess I really hadn't noticed I was soaking wet.

I gulped, but that only had water go into my lungs. I looked down at my legs, and squeezed my eyes shut. I tried clawing my way to the top. I was never very good at swimming with legs.

Then my tail appeared. I let out a sigh of relief, with also let out a flurry of bubbles. _Well,_ I thought, _I was heading for Mako anyway._

I surfaced only to hear a, "Where'd she go?" followed by a confused Nate peering over the wrong side of the deck.

I didn't want to cause any suspicion, so I said, "I'm here, Nate."

Zane gasped and came over with Nate. Then he sighed when he saw that the murky waters covered my tail.

"If you don't mind, boys, I'm going for a little swim." Then with that, I sunk under.

While I was swimming away, I heard faint talking from Nate. "Dude, isn't she hot?"

I surfaced in the moon pool, and swam to the edge. I drew in the sand, creating doodles of different kinds. I created hearts, circles, squares, diamonds, and all different kinds of things until my hand cramped. Then I just floated in the moon pool and relaxing.

It gave me some time to think. Emma's birthday was coming up, and I needed to come up with what to do for a present, and what we are going to do for her party (but that was a group decision.)

I pushed myself away from the edge of the moon pool, and lowered under. I was done swimming for the day.

**A/N: So how do you like it? Trust me, it gets more exciting on the way. R&R. BTW, in about the middle of the story, it says that Avery starts eating a chip. If you don't already know, chips are French fries. If you already knew, congrats! You're smart! (Or already live in Australia XD)**


	4. A Horrible Ending

**A/N: So, it's time for another chapter! You'll also get a look through Cleo's eyes in this chapter, too.**

**Marril96: Sorry, but Avery already has someone else on her radar! ;) You'll see in this chapter…**

**Chapter 3: A Horrible Ending**

_Monday_

I strolled down the hallway of my school, clutching m books tightly to my chest. I scooted to my locker, and turned the dial.

Twenty-three was the first number, so I twisted it to twenty-three. Twenty-three, fourteen, nine…the lock clicked open.

I dumped my algebra books in and took out my world history ones. I shut the locker rather loud, although I didn't mean to.

I went down the hallway, and caught sight of Zane. Then at that moment, I tripped over my shoelaces that weren't tied. They never stayed tied anyway.

I bent down and began to collect my things. I looked up and caught sight of Zane doing the same thing, too. I tugged on a lock of my red hair, and then tucked it behind my ear. Zane gave me back my books. I mumbled a, "Thanks," and was about to leave when I noticed Zane looking at a picture in his hand.

"Give me that!" I cried, snatching the photo out of his hand. The photo was of She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named and me, standing side-by-side. The dress I was wearing was made by He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named (he took the picture, too.) I guess I left the photo lying around.

"Who was the woman next to you?" he asked.

"No one," I snapped.

"Harsh. Hey, aren't you going to say thanks for yesterday?" Zane asked, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, grasping his own books.

"For pushing me off the dock? Yeah, no." Just then, the bell sounded. I sighed. "Great, Zane, you've made me late. I have to go," I said.

"Wait," he said. "One more question."

"What?" I asked, exasperated. I _really _needed to get to class now.

"Do you know what you're getting Emma for her birthday?" Zane asked.

I thought as my eyes trailed to my nails. They turned brown. Deep in thought, figures.

"No," I said slowly. "Sorry." Then with that, I took off down the hall.

School passed by in a drag, as usual. But I couldn't help fretting over Zane and the picture. What had he seen? Was he interested at who the woman might be in the picture? Had he seen how different our dresses looked? Or had he not paid any attention to it at all?

When the last bell rung, I slung my backpack over my shoulder and headed for home. All I could think was, _What a Monday._

I said hi to Shane, and was about to go inside, when I thought better of it. Instead, I said, "Shane?"

"Yeah?" he asked, twisting his head to look at me.

"Um…" I was at loss for words. _Just say it already!_ part of my mind urged. _Ask him out!_

But it was harder than it seemed. I finally spat out, "Uh, are you familiar with…negative integers?" I could have slapped myself.

"Sure," he said, and began to explain, even though I already knew them. So I sort of zoned out.

When he was done, I thanked him and took off into my apartment. I ran into Ms. Ramsey while taking off down the corridor.

"Avery, are we still on for Thursday night?" she asked in worry. I smiled. I had always wanted to know why everyone always asked that, even though they know the date is still set.

"Yeah," I said. "We're still on."

She smiled and thanked me. I nodded and headed to my apartment.

When inside, I slung my backpack on the bed, and made my way down the hallway. I stepped in the elevator, and pressed the cracked button. The doors squeaked shut, and I was alone in pitch-black darkness. The elevator sat there for what seemed to be hours, and then finally started to go down ever so slowly. It then suddenly jolted to a halt. Just when I thought I was going to have a heart attack, the doors creaked back open.

I went out the door, but accidentally tripped. Shane was standing in front of me, and it was like I was tripping in slow motion. But then Shane caught me in his arms.

I smiled, grateful. But I was more nervous that our lips were centimeters apart.

Was this really it? Would I kiss him? I got my answer when Shane broke into a grin and said, "You're such a klutz, Peacock!"

I smiled wearily and straightened up. He always liked to call me by my last name.

How could I have been so stupid? Of course he wasn't going to kiss me.

I took off to the JuiceNet, my face hot. I was _so_ embarrassed. I noticed my nails were hot pink, too. When arriving at the JuiceNet, I grabbed my apron and started working the tables. I went over to Cleo and Rikki sitting at a table (Emma was working, too) and asked them what they'd like.

"I'll have a blueberry and Rikki'll have a strawberry," Cleo said, ordering for both herself and Rikki. When I was about to leave, Rikki stopped me.

She said, "Tomorrows a full moon, and we thought we'd like to crash at your place. If it's okay, of course."

I bit my lip. "Uh, my parents are having guests over and probably want me to not have teenagers sleeping over. Sorry," I said.

"Alright," Cleo said slowly. "Some other time perhaps," she said.

I nodded. "Sure." But I knew it was a promise that I'd never keep.

Cleo POV

After Avery left, I turned to Rikki. "Don't you think it's a little…weird that we've never seen her house, or even her parents?"

She thought, and then shook her head. "Not really, considering I never told you guys about my house or shown you my dad until almost a year after I met you. Maybe she's embarrassed."

I thought. "But if she was embarrassed, wouldn't her fingernails prove it?" I asked.

She shrugged. "All I want right now is my juice."

Emma got off her shift and joined us. Now all we were waiting for was for Avery, and her shift ended fifteen minutes after Emma's.

She ordered a cranberry juice, and we talked while waiting for Avery. Rikki smiled slyly and asked Emma, "So, whatcha doing for your birthday?"

"Nothing much. My parents are taking Elliott and me to lunch, then I'm going to swim," Emma said.

"While swimming, make sure to drop by Mako at around 5:00. We're gonna party!" I said, laughing.

Emma smiled. The reason I told her it was a party was because if I told her just to come to Mako at that time, she'd know it was a party and it would spoil everything.

Avery POV

I served the last juice, received my paycheck, which I got every Monday, and sat with the guys.

I said, "Hey, where are we going for tomorrow?"

"Well, we were going to plan it at your place, but since your folks are having guests, we decided it to be at Cleo's house," said Emma.

Rikki took out her straw and licked the opposite end. Zane came over, and Rikki smiled, while leaning in for a kiss.

But Zane accidentally knocked her juice right onto her lap. She groaned and got up. Looking into his eyes, she took his face and planted a deep kiss right on his lips, just before running out the door and diving into the ocean.

I couldn't smile. Why couldn't Shane and I be like that? I got my answer as I was returning home.

I walked in the cool breeze. To me, it was just the right temperature. I strode over to Shane and smiled.

"Hey, Shane, what's up?" I asked him, smiling.

"Nothing much," he said, returning the smile. My heart melted.

Just then, a tan, tall, and beautiful blonde went up to Shane. I think my heart missed a beat as she hugged him.

_Maybe she's just a friend, or a sister,_ I thought. But I almost fainted as she pulled him into a kiss.

_Do a friend or a relative do _that?I thought again. Tears blurred my vision as Shane said, "Hey, Peacock, this is Lindsey. We've been dating a couple days, and…"

I didn't hear the rest. I was too busy running away. My heart was literally broken. And only one thought swarmed in my crazy, mixed up head: SHANE HAS A GIRLFRIEND!

**A/N: Oh, no! So Avery's heart is broken into a million pieces. What'll happen next? Find out in the next chapter!**


	5. Shane

A/N: So this chapter's got some Avery/Shane moments, so be prepared…. Also, I am updating because…IT'S MY B-DAY! So this'll be a little birthday treat for me and you guys.

Shiyan13: That's okay that you don't like my story. Everyone has his or her own opinion. You don't have to read my story if you don't want. Avery is a character I made up on my own. Ash appears in H2O season 2. He is Emma's boyfriend. Also, I want to add other details so its not just centered around one thing, but a wide variety. I also want Avery to talk about other things. Thanks for the review!

**Majobloem: I really don't know. Thanks for the review.**

**Marril96: Oh, we'll just have to wait and see…thanks for the review!**

Disclaimer: I do not own H2O.

Chapter 4: Shane

Monday

I cried and sobbed and sobbed and cried all the way down to the beach. There, I dug in my pocket and found something. Cleo's iPod! I forgot to give it back to her.

I put the ear buds in my ears and cranked up the loudest song I could find on her play list. Then I started jogging along the beach. I jogged past the JuiceNet, where Ash saw me and signaled for me to stop. I pretended I didn't know what it meant, waved, and went on.

I ran past everyone who called out my name, giving a little half-hearted wave. Then I just continued.

Soon I reached the beach again, and by that time, I was out of breath. Now I realized why in 8th grade I didn't sign up for track, and practically failed running in gym.

I hid Cleo's iPod in a bush, hoping with all my heart it wouldn't get stolen. The last thing I needed right now was an angry friend, and trust me, I've dealt with those before at my time in The Gold Coast.

I walked to the edge of the sand, and closed my eyes. The salty sea air welcomed me, because of course; I _was_ a mermaid, for Pete's sake.

The water licked my toes, and when I finally realized I had touched water already, I dove in immediately.

Swimming slowly, I got the opportunity to think. My current teacher had told me that wherever there was a problem, there was a solution. After much thinking, I finally came up with this:

_Problem: Shane has a girlfriend when I like him._

_Solution: Embarrass said "Lindsey" in front of Shane, ruin any chances of them staying together, where Shane and I will frolic into the sunset just as the picture fades._

All right, so I didn't do so well with the master plan. But in my defense, it's pretty hard to brainstorm when you're upset and frustrated, not to mention hungry also.

Though I think doing a practical joke on her would be funny for my purposes. I'd have to get Rikki to help me on that.

I arrived at the moon pool and basked at its beauty (God, I was turning into Emma!) I swirled the water with my finger. I noticed my fingernail was a dark, deep blue. Sad. Of course.

I beckoned the water with a finger. A ball of water appeared out of the air. I summoned it to come towards me. The gleaming ball glittered in the sunshine streaming through the top of the volcano.

The water from the moon pool was said (by Emma, Rikki, and Cleo of course; no one else knew about the hidden pool) to cure anything. It was said to do anything…including grant wishes.

I opened my mouth and inserted the water. I swallowed the water, and felt power. I closed my eyes and said, "I wish Lindsey would dump Shane."

Then I sighed. Since when had I gotten my way? I never got my way.

I sighed again and ducked under. I swam out to the beach on the rocks and waited with my eyes closed, letting the sun's rays soak in and warm me up.

"Avery, what the heck?" a voice interrupted me from my thoughts. My eyes flew wide open, my heart beating fast. Who had the voice belonged to? Had they figured out my secret? Well, of course they did, because who wouldn't suspect someone lying with a tail on rocks?

I fell off the rocks and into the ocean, getting all wet again. I looked up to see Lewis standing right in front of me, all dressed up in his fishing gear. He took fishing pretty seriously. I groaned.

"Lewis, you had me worried! It could have been a fisher, or worse, a marine biologist. Or even worse—someone from the FBI!" I said.

"Yeah, I really don't think someone from the FBI would be here," Lewis said. "And Avery, you have to be careful. Sure, it might not have been an FBI agent who saw you, but maybe some local fisher. Things would not have been good."

I rolled my eyes, and said in a singsong voice, "Za-ne, Ash, Lew-is! What is with the boyfriends out there to protect us?"

"Hmmm," he said, and scratched his chin if he were thinking, "Maybe because you have the brain the size of a peanut. Oh! I hope I didn't insult any peanuts."

I gathered a huge waterspout with my powers and threw it at him, getting him soaked.

"Mind helping me out?" I asked, reaching for his hand. He grabbed it, and started helping me out.

When I'd first moved here, I thought Lewis was pretty cute, and funny too. But he just wasn't my type. Plus, I could never do that to Cleo.

Lewis helped me out, considering he was already wet. While grunting and wheezing at my tail weight, he asked between breaths, "So, what are you getting Emma for her birthday?"

"I really have no idea," I said. Just then, Cleo came up.

"What are you guys doing?" she asked when she saw Lewis pulling me up off the rocks.

"Nothing," I said, but I saw the jealousy in her eyes. I knew Cleo didn't get jealous or feel threatened easily. She shot me a, "What-really-were-you-doing?" gaze. I shot her back a, "We-were-really-doing-nothing," stare.

I dried off by using my telekinetic powers to get off the water droplets, and started walking back to the apartment. "Sunset Apartment Buildings," was pretty much the only apartment building around since they were so rare in Australia.

I approached Shane, taking a deep breath. Not meeting his eyes, I said icily, "Hi. Having fun with _Lindsey_?"

"Not really," he said. His voice was on the same cool level as mine.

I looked at him in surprise, still not fully meeting his eyes. "You aren't? Why?" Then I remembered I was sort of mad at him. "Well, not that I care."

"We broke up." He breathed the words as if they were music. _They broke up._ That meant Shane was single!

But _I_ made them break up, not their feelings for each other. I felt pretty guilty. What if the really liked each other?

"Shane, listen to me," I said. "You guys shouldn't have broken up. Get back together with her, okay?"

"I can't," he said.

"Yes, you can! Tell her she shouldn't have dumped you."

"Dumped me?" he looked over at me curiously. "_I_ broke up with _her_."

My breath caught in my throat. That couldn't be true. I had wished for Lindsey to dump Shane, right?

I thought. Yes, I had. But yet, Shane broke up with Lindsey. This meant three things:

The water in the moon pool does not grant wishes (then again, it might, and just not have granted _mine_.)

Shane and Lindsey broke up for _real_ reasons, not just a spur-of-the-moment I-wished-for-it break up.

Shane wasn't dating anyone!

"So," I said. "Not that it's any of my business, but why did you two break up?"

Shane paused, and I began to debate if he was going to answer. But then he spoke. "Because I realized I liked someone else much more."

All hope that I used to have easily drained away. "Uh, Hilary Duff?"

He laughed. "Ah, Peacock. Love that sense of humor."

Time stopped. I'm serious. All my hope came back again as I grasped what he said. I was surprised when I was able to say, "Really?" although it came out in a squeak.

He nodded. "And if you don't mind, there's something I've been meaning to do."

He bent over and kissed me full on the lips. I melted away. When I pulled back, I smiled so wide. "So, now where does this take us?"

He smiled, too. "Right here. Would you like to go out with me tomorrow night?"

I felt as if I was floating ten feet off the ground. "Sure!" I said, over enthusiastically. Then I said, much mellower, "I mean, cool. Whatever."

I entered the apartment building really quietly. Then I went into my apartment, and sat down on my bed. After about 20 minutes of silence and trying to get my brain to work again, I let out a scream of joy. I hopped around, jumping and screaming madly. I was so loud I barely heard my phone ring.

"Feglio!" I cried. "What have you been up to?"

"I see you're excited," said an amused voice over the other end.

"Yes, I am! This guy I like just asked me out and kissed me!" I screamed. I never held anything back from Feglio.

"Wow, how has the time gone by? I thought just yesterday you were a baby."

"When I lived back there, you always considered me a little girl," I said. "And, by the way, I have been missing recently." I stopped. How couldn't I be missing the wonderful beaches and sparkling sand? Sure, I had it all here in The Gold Coast, but it wasn't my home. I unexpectedly got hit with a surge of homesickness. Then I said, "Alright, how are they doing?"

"Good, good, as usual. What did you expect?" Feglio asked.

I shrugged, even though I knew he couldn't see me. Into the receiver, I said, "I haven't the faintest idea. But, thanks for calling anyway Feglio."

"Your welcome. You know I always want to hear your voice."

I blushed. "Well, bye!"

He returned the word and I hung up. I continued dancing around and yelling in joy until one angry adult told me to "shut up."

I couldn't, though. Then I thought: I need something to wear for tomorrow!

I was able to catch a glimpse of my fingernails while pawing through my clothes to find something to wear. They were a bright, bright yellow.

**A/N: Yayz! They're together! But another call from this mysterious Feglio…who could he be? More wonders about Avery to come!**


	6. Full Moon Crazy Part 1

A/N: Let's hear it for Shane and Avery! This chapter features a tiny bit of the full moon, which will be continued on part 2.

**Thanks to Marril96 for reviewing!**

**Chapter 5: Full Moon Crazy Part 1** Tuesday

"Well, you need something fancy," Cleo said slowly after I explained my whole "I need an outfit," situation to her. She continued, "But not too fancy that he thinks all you did was spend the day picking out your outfit. You need something that says you're interested, but not too interested. Also, it needs to be simple, but yet wild and complicated."

My head was spinning. "Uh, why don't I just try some things on?"

She gave me a thumbs up. I tried on several different outfits, receiving either a thumbs down, a, "Nope," a, "Oh, no," or a, "Now that is just all wrong!"

Finally, when I was just about to give up, go home and wing it, Cleo picked out a dress and shoved it into my hands. Spinning me around, she pushed me into her bathroom with a, "I think it's perfect! Try it on!"

When I came out, Cleo gave me a thumbs up. "Perfect!"

I looked down at my creamy violet dress, with a violet choker, a violet purse and black shoes. It _was_ beautiful.

I changed back into my regular clothes, and sat down on Cleo's bed. "So," she said, sliding up next to me. "When do we get to meet mystery man?"

I looked at an imaginary watch on my hand. "Oh, would you look at the time! I must go or I'll be late for school!" I gathered my belongings and hurried out the door before further discussion would be made.

While hurrying out the door, I heard a faint cry from behind me: "I'll find out the truth about you, Avery Peacock!"

I knew Cleo meant it as finding out who I was going on a date with, but it felt like she wanted to know the real truth about me.

OoOoOoO

I went into my apartment, and got my backpack and things. I was about to go out the door, when I looked back at my apartment.

_My_ apartment. The words just didn't flow right together, they didn't harmonize. It was as if someone had said something, and then thought about it, and said, "What the heck did I mean?"

A lone tear slid down my cheek as I closed the door. I knew for a fact that it just wasn't my apartment—my home. It would never be my home, because my real home was not where I lived right now.

I hurried out the door, where Shane was standing. Instead of our usual routine of "Good morning," he opened his arms, where I came in and completed the hug. Yeah, I liked it better.

"Can't wait for our date tonight," he whispered in my ear. I giggled and nodded, then kissed him on the cheek. Finally, I started for school.

About halfway there, I stopped. Wait…did he say _tonight_? But wasn't tonight…

Oh, no. My heart started beating in my chest as I checked my watch. The air I was holding slowly came out. If I rushed back to the apartment and then back to school, I might just make it.

So off I ran, wheezing and grunting the whole way. Like I said before, I could swim at a very fast speed, but with running, I was most defiantly not a pro athlete.

I finally caught up to Shane. He asked me why I wasn't in school (in case you're wondering why Shane isn't in school, it's because he's starting collage next fall.) I told him in sputtered breaths, "Tonight…busy…cancel…dinner…"

"Tonight you're busy so you have to cancel our dinner date?" asked Shane. I smiled gratefully. He got me so well.

After I caught my breath, I straightened up and said, "How about tomorrow night? Is it a date?" I mentally racked my brain to see if I was busy tomorrow. Nope, but the next day was my baby-sitting job for the Ramsey's.

"Sure," he said. I thanked him, and took off again to the school. I'll spare you the puffing and panting details of running to school, but if you ever ask me how I ended up in the principal's office that fine Tuesday afternoon, you know it's because I was late to school.

Usually this wasn't a big issue at our high school since it's pretty loose about the rules, but this wasn't the first time I'd been late.

"Ms. Peacock," Mrs. Bishop started, taking every word slowly. I think that's what teachers mainly do, take it slowly so every word (whether they are teaching or punishing) is pure torment and agony. "We do not tolerate multiple times to be tardy to school."

This wasn't the first time I had gotten in trouble with the teacher, so I knew how to handle them. The key was just to nod and pretend that you were "learning from your mistakes."

"Yes, Mrs. Bishop. I promise that this will be the last time." Personally, I just wanted to get the heck out of here. Dissecting a frog would be better than this. Plus, why did teachers sometimes tell you to promise something wouldn't happen again? Who are we? Future tellers?

"Good, because I have a way to prevent it," she said. I started fiddling with my fingers. I glimpsed my nail polish, which was light blue. Calm.

When I didn't speak up, Mrs. Bishop said, "I would like to meet your parents."

My head snapped up from my boring fingers. What? I started to panic. "Wait, can't I just give you a book summary? I once read the book…"

"Enough," interrupted Mrs. Bishop. I huffed a little. Wasn't it rude to interrupt the teacher? So why could the teacher interrupt _you_?

Mrs. Bishop fiddled with her brown dress. It was pretty tacky. Mrs. Bishop always wore tacky things like that, and always caked on a _lot_ of make-up.

"It's settled. I will come by this afternoon, about an hour after you get dismissed from school. It will give you time to clean up your dysfunctional house a little for my visit."

I was taken back. Dysfunctional? What was _that_ supposed to mean? "Excuse me?"

"Never mind," Bishop said. "Please, what is your address?"

I squirmed a little in my seat. I knew I couldn't give her my address and had a good reason why.

"Ms. Peacock?" Bishop asked again.

I took a big sigh, and told her.

OoOoOoO

"And _that_ is why I need your dad to pretend to be mine," I told Cleo that afternoon.

"So your real dad and mother are on vacation and you don't want Mrs. Bishop to know that you were left home alone because she wouldn't think it was responsible of your parents? And she would call them and ruin their vacation?" Cleo asked.

I smiled. That girl caught on fast. "Yeah. So, please, ask your dad."

So she did. After a lot of bickering and promising that I wouldn't do it again, he gave in. I thanked him kindly just as the doorbell rang. I took a deep breath and opened the door. Mrs. Bishop stood there, looking all official with her briefcase and suit. Didn't she have somewhere else to be?

She cleared her throat, and I stepped aside, clearing the entryway and inviting her in.

She seated herself on the couch, putting her briefcase beside her and crossing her legs. I rolled my eyes at her professional look, and she raised an eyebrow at me. I shrugged; she couldn't give me detention out of school!

"So," she started, clearing her throat, "I think you know why I'm here." She nodded in my direction as if to indicate it was _my_ fault—well, I guess it was.

"Yes," said Don, even though I'm sure he didn't have the faintest idea. I mouthed, "Late for school," to him, and he nodded.

Mrs. Bishop unlatched her briefcase and dug around inside, around the neatly folded stacks of papers. She got out a fat stack of papers stapled together. "_AVERY PEACOCK_" was neatly printed in all caps across the top.

She flipped through the papers and landed on a certain spot. She handed Don the papers and pointed to the spot. "This is a list of the times Ms. Peacock," she glanced at me, "was late. As you can see, it is an unreasonable amount."

Don's eyebrows raised at my "late for school" list, so then I had to snatch it from his hands. "He knows," I said, handing it back to Mrs. Bishop. "And I'm sorry," I added quickly.

I looked at Cleo, signaling for her to do something. She got the hint and said, "Mrs. Bishop, would you like some coffee?"

"You know where the coffee machine is in in a different house?" she asked curiously. I saw the confusion right on Cleo's face, and unfortunately, so did Bishop. "This isn't your house," she said slowly, as if talking to a little girl, "This is the Peacock's."

I jumped in to save the day. "Cleo here visits often," I said. I grabbed her by the hand. "C'mon, Cleo, let's make some coffee."

I led her to her kitchen, where she went over to the coffee machine and started working. "It'll never work," Cleo insisted while pouring in the coffee beans. "She'll probably suspect something."

I shrugged, and started rummaging through her refrigerator. "Bishop isn't that smart," I persisted. I poked around for some time, throwing food on the floor that I didn't want.

"Nope," I said, throwing a bag of lunchmeat on the floor.

"Hey!" Cleo said, scooping up the meat.

"Get used to it," I said. "Rikki's coming over in an hour."

She scowled as she cleaned up my mess. After searching for some time, I finally found a box of Popsicles in freezer. My eyes gleamed as I popped a grape Popsicle in my mouth.

Cleo poured two coffee mugs full, and I followed her to the living room where Mrs. Bishop and Don were murmuring quietly. At one point, Don burst out laughing at something Bishop said, and then saw us. In embarrassment, he invited us to join.

Cleo gave Bishop a mug, which she accepted gratefully. She sipped her coffee as Cleo offered a mug to Don. He politely declined, and Cleo set it down on the coffee table with distaste. I knew she hated coffee.

I rolled my eyes. "Cleo, you have to remember, I'm right here!" I grabbed a mug and started chugging the coffee along with my Popsicle.

Don laughed, and soon Bishop joined in. I stopped drinking. Wait…Bishop—_laughing_?

She got up to leave, and right when she was going out the open door (which Don opened _for_ her, I might add), Cleo said, "What are you going to do to Avery?"

I shot her a death glance. She was just about to let me go! Bishop wore a blank expression on her face, like she forgot the whole reason she was here. Then her face lit up and she said, "I was _going_ to give her a week of detention, but you guys were so nice," she winked at Don, "that I'll let her go for free."

I let out a whoop and threw my arms up in the air in a victory V. She interrupted, "Just promise not to be late again."

I nodded eagerly, and she left without another word (but another backwards glance at Don and a half-smile.)

"Thank you so much, Don!" I cried. "I could never repay you for what you did tonight!"

"Just promise not to be late again," Don reminded me. He sounded like a repeat machine of Mrs. Bishop.

Soon, Emma arrived, and we got a text from Rikki:

To: Cleo

_From: Rikki_

_Heyyy,_

_On my way! BRT (be right there)!_

So we waited anxiously for a few minutes. Then I heard a beeping sound that made me jump. It turned out just to be Cleo's watch.

"Guys," said Cleo. "The full moon's up."

"But where's Rikki?" Emma asked. No one replied. All we could hear was the chirping of the night crickets, and the cackling of a fire nearby.

**A/N: Ohhh, cliffy! What'll happen? I'll tell you how to find out: review! Seven Microsoft Word pages I wrote! Lol!**


	7. Full Moon Crazy Part 2

**A/N: So here's another chapter!**

**Marril96: Thank you so much for your review, and thank you for reviewing my other story, too! I spent time going through your reviews, smiling and nodding and laughing along with them. A huge thanks to you!**

Aiedail-Star: Thanks to you too, for reviewing! I will keep writing!

**HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own H2O.**

**Full Moon Crazy Part 2**

Late Tuesday, almost Wednesday

We did not have to think twice to understand what was happening. Rikki+ cackling in the distance+ her powers+ the full moon= disaster. We all shuffled to the back door, and pressed our ears against the firmly covered door. Yep, defiantly cackling.

"What are we going to do?" asked Emma.

"What _can_ we do?" I asked. "She's moonstruck for crying out loud. There's nothing _to_ do. She's unstoppable."

"But if she keeps up that raging forest fire, none of us are going to be around to tell the tale," Cleo said. I gulped.

"Maybe if we can move it," started Emma slowly.

"That's it!" cried Cleo. "Avery, do you think you can move the fire into the gardening bucket that my dad left out? It's full of water, so it will easily go out!"

"But she can't look at the moon!" said Emma. "How can we be sure she won't get moonstruck?"

I took a deep breath and said, "I'll do it with my eyes closed. But that doesn't guarantee I'll be able to do it, since I'll be blind."

I readied myself, and told everyone to closed her eyes. Behind the inside of my eyelids, I felt around for the window. Gripping the sheet of cardboard that was held in place in front of the glass with pieces of duct tape, I ripped it off.

I felt the moons pull, very strong. I tried to ignore it while twisting my hand. I felt the fire with my powers; it was Rikki's fire. It felt like Rikki's fire, no other felt just like it.

I lead the fire to the bucket (after a few failed attempts, I might add), and it was drenched in no time. I carefully placed the cardboard back in place, and told everyone to open her eyes.

Then we heard it—footsteps. Crunching in the autumn leaves.

"She's coming!" cried Cleo. "What if she hurts us?"

"She has more control than that," I insisted, even though I probably didn't believe it myself.

The door suddenly swung open—the shut just as quick as it came. Rikki stood right in front of the door.

"The moon," she breathed, as if each word was a harmony, "it's beautiful, no?"

"There are more important things," I told her, stepping up. "Like your friends." I nodded to Emma and Cleo.

She narrowed her cat-like eyes at me, and motioned to the sink. A fire then broke out in the sink.

Rikki POV

To: Cleo

_From: Rikki_

_Heyyy,_

_On my way! BRT (be right there)!_

My thumbs flew across the keypad as I wrote the text to Cleo. I was running a little late packing my things, but I made sure to get out of the house before the moon was up.

I walked a little faster, hoping Cleo, Emma, and Avery wouldn't worry. I wasn't worrying much myself until my cell bleeped.

I took it out of my pocket and stared at the screen—a pretty decent picture of a full moon. Wait, I had set that up to beep when the moon was up. But, that couldn't be true, because then…

I looked up into the cloudy sky—oh, no. The moon's half-hidden form was peeking out beneath a cloud. The clouds parted, and all that was left was the moon.

I dropped my phone. I really had never seen anything more majestic in my life. I had to repay it for showing me its beauty.

I stood there, with my mouth open, forming undecided words. The moon whispered to me, as if it had read my mind. I closed my open mouth. I knew what I had to do.

I turned and stalked down the road as more and more worried texts popped up from Emma, Cleo and Avery. I didn't even think about them as I pushed past to Cleo's house. That was where they were.

I stopped in Cleo's yard. I stared at the moon for some time, smiling and giggling at its majesty. How had only a few hours ago my only thought is to what to eat for lunch when this was in the sky? This, this—this beautiful, spectacular circle. And what had been blocking myself from it? School? My life? My friends?

My mind froze. My friends. Of course, that was it! They were in there right now, hiding from the moon. But why hide?

I got so angry at them for shying away so easily when a little danger would occur with looking at the moon. Why did they have to be so spineless?

I was so mad at them that I waved my hand and a burning fire started in Cleo's yard. See what I mean? We have these amazing powers that could help us live life to the fullest, and what do they do? They hide! When there's something out here that no one else could see. It was a secret that was only to be shared with the four of us, no one else. Not even that blonde headed scientist, or that spoiled rich kid, or that dark haired horse rider. None of them. Just us.

Suddenly my fire moved. It moved wobbly over to the bucket of water on the edge of Cleo's yard, calming the flames and having them die out. I shot a glance at Cleo's window, where cardboard was just being taped into place. I narrowed my eyes and started stalking to Cleo's house, the leaves crunching under my feet. I heard a few panicked voices from inside the house; probably someone had heard me and was trying to keep down their voices. But they didn't fool me.

I swung the door open and stepped inside. There they were, huddled together, like in a pack. I only had to say a few things.

"The moon; it's beautiful, no?" They had to agree!

"There are more important things," Avery said, stepping up to me. "Like your friends." She nodded to Emma and Cleo.

I narrowed my eyes. Of course they'd say that, they're the ones that were cowering in fear of something so beautiful! I needed to teach them a lesson that they should never play with fire.

With a strong wave of my hand, I lit a blazing fire in the sink. I couldn't help smiling in admiration at its flames.

Avery POV

I yelped and took a step back. What the heck did Rikki think she was doing?

A spiral of water was sent hurtling towards the sink. I smiled gratefully at the culprit—Cleo.

"What a nice companion you have there, Avery," she said icily. Then in one fluid motion, she lunged for my arm and caught it gracefully. I held up one of my hands to her face—threatening to hurt her with my powers.

"Oh, Avery," she said when I didn't let my hand drop. "You would never hurt me."

"Is that so?" I asked. "I might as well."

She slyly smiled, and threw me to the ground. Pain bounded up my arm, but the thing that hurt the most was the thought that she'd ever want to _hurt_ me.

_Snap out of it, girl,_ my mind urged me. _She can't control herself._

"You're not acting like yourself," I said. "I know you won't harm me."

"_I'm_ not acting like myself?" Rikki shrieked. I immediately cringed back. I guess I tugged on the right strings.

"What about _you_? Huh? We know _nothing_ about you!" she boomed. "And you're questioning who's not acting like themselves?"

I bit my lip, and shot back, "You know _plenty_ about me!" I turned to the terrified Cleo and Emma. "Right?"

They looked at each other.

I was sort of offended. "You guys know my deepest, darkest secret! That I'm a mermaid, for crying out loud!"

"Well, that's because we're mermaids, too," pointed out Emma. "But…I was kind of thinking the same thing. What _do_ we know about you?"

"You know…" I started. Then I stopped. What _did_ they really know about me? Slowly, ever so slowly, I got up.

Truth be told, they knew _nothing._ Absolutely nothing.

"Avery," Cleo said softly, "Maybe we can get Rikki to stop pestering us if you told us something. For instance…what are your parents jobs?"

I sagged a little. "Uh…my dad…he's…uh…a rodeo clown." It sounded more of a question that a statement.

Rikki raised her eyebrow. "A rodeo clown? That was the _best_ you could come up with?"

"Rikki," I said fiercely. "Will you leave them alone if…if I go out and look at the moon with you?"

Emma gasped, and Cleo clung onto me.

Rikki grinned. "Yes," she said. "Yes, that would be remarkable."

I figured anything would be better than standing around talking about my life. I started for the door, but heard Cleo behind me. "Please don't go, Avery."

I turned. "Sorry," I said gently. "It'll protect you."

"One more thing," she said. "Where _did_ you live before here?"

I froze. When my head finally worked again, I whispered, "I can't tell."

Emma shook her head. Cleo looked disappointed. "Avery…" Cleo started. "If we don't know anything about you…"

Emma jumped in for her. "Then I don't know how we could be friends."

I was disgusted. How could they say such a thing? "What? How could you two be so self-centered?" Before they could answer, I turned. Facing the door, I said, "Call Lewis. Have him come. Look for us in the morning, but if it'll make you late for school, don't."

And with that, I ditched the enemies and got outside.

Rikki smiled at me when I stared at the moon. I didn't stop for a long time, but when I did, I giggled as Rikki pulled me to the water.

Oh, how perfect that had been! The moon was so…beautiful. I didn't need anyone besides Rikki and the moon.

We raced to the shoreline, and without a moment's hesitation, we dived in. I laughed as my tail appeared. Yes, the moon had done this. We owed it one. It had given us our perfect tails.

We surfaced at Mako, and pulled ourselves up on the rocky edge. We dried off, frowning when our bronze tails disappeared as quickly as it had come.

"Let's watch the moon pool bubble," I whispered. Rikki nodded and giggled.

After waiting a while, the grand finale came. The pretty—no, _stunning_—moon came into view. The moon pool began to bubble and froth. Rikki grinned and jumped in. Her blonde hair disappeared from view under water.

I frowned. Why did she get all the fun? I kicked off my sneakers and dived right in. Rikki was under water, waiting, with a tail. I kicked my legs, and they formed into a tail. We both surfaced.

Rikki and I watched as balls of magic flew up into the sky, seemingly to disappear once they hit the moon.

My hand came out of the water and started to point at the sky. I attempted to bring the moon down to us, but Rikki slapped my hand away. She said something along the lines of, "Let it be."

The moon eventually passed and all my bones ached. I lay down on the sand—tail and all (it would dry off soon enough)—and closed my eyes. One thought surrounded my head—and all I dreamed about that night was the moon. I heard the faint buzz of my phone, but I ignored it. I slowly drifted off…

**A/N: So the next chapter is her date with Shane—wonder how that will turn out!**


	8. The Date

**A/N: It's Avery's date! What will happen?**

**Oh, and Marril96, I forgot to answer your question on my other story. No, Kylie is not part of the Twilight saga. She's one of my original characters, along with Avery and Shane.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own H2O.**

The DateWednesday

My eyelids fluttered open, and the first thing I saw was the rocky inner shell of the moon pool. I got up, dazed, and looked around. Why was I here?

I held my head in my hand. I swerved around, and found myself looking at Rikki. She was sound asleep, straddled across the ground.

"Rikki," I gently whispered, shaking her a little. She continued to sleep.

"Rikki," I urged a little more, shaking her more firmly. She rolled over and snored.

I sighed, and checked my watch. I gasped. We were going to be late! I couldn't be late again, especially a day after I promised I wouldn't.

I turned my attention back to the sound asleep Rikki. I took a deep breath, and boomed, "RIKKI, IT'S TIME TO WAKE UP!"

She stirred a little. I was shocked. She must have been a rock hard sleeper.

"Rikki, it's time for breakfast!" I yelled. In an instant, she sat up like a bolt of lightning. She said, "I'll take the bacon!"

"Rikki," I said, ignoring the bacon remark, "we're going to be late for school!"

She yawned. "Since when have I been worried about school? And what happened yesterday?"

"Uh…" I said. I really didn't have a clue. "Uh, let's see…oh, yes! You got moonstruck…"

"I got moonstruck?" she asked, startled.

"So I used my powers to drench the fire you made…" I continued.

"I set a fire?"

"Oh, and…Cleo and Emma got mad at me." I stopped. Yes, I remembered that part clearly now. "They knew nothing about me, so they got mad." I huffed, and crossed my arms. "Well, I'm mad at them. They threatened to end our friendship. Like I care. At least you're not mad." I glanced at Rikki. She was staring at the moon pool wall.

"Rikki?" I said uncertainly. "You're not mad that you know nothing about me, right?" When she didn't answer, I emphasized, "_Right_?"

"Uh…" she said. "It is kind of alarming we know nothing."

"I knew it," I said in a shaky voice, getting up and dusting my pants of the sand that clung onto me that night. "All you guys want to do is pry."

"Avery," she said softly. "If you live like me, in a trailer, there's nothing to be ashamed of. We would like to know your parents and where you live."

"There are certain things for certain reasons that I cannot tell you, like where I live, who my parents are, where I last lived…" I said.

"I knew it!" Rikki said, getting up, too. "You're part of the Witness Protection Program!"

I froze when she said she knew it, but relaxed when she said the comment about the Witness Protection Program. I sighed, and said, "_No_, Rikki, I am _not_ part of the Witness Protection Program." She opened her mouth to speak, but I interrupted. "Or the FBI." She closed her mouth, and then opened it again. I sighed, and said, "Or the CIA." She closed it, but once again she opened it. I said, "Or some government database where they spy on teenagers for their everyday activities!"

She closed it once more, and shrugged. "Well, never mind then. But why can't you tell us? We're your friends. It's us, or this secret, Avery."

I shook my head, tears forming in the corners of my eyes. "I can't believe you said that," I said. I dived into the moon pool, and swam to the shore.

OoOoOoO

I went into me apartment and grabbed my books. I shut the door soundly, and strolled down the hall.

I went out the door and hugged Shane. He said he couldn't wait for our date, and I smiled and said, "Me too." I was really just looking for anything to cheer me up.

I set off to school, and (Thank God) I wasn't late. I gripped my books tightly and went to my locker. After dumping my books into my already messy locker, I set off to my first class.

Cleo, Emma, and Rikki were talking in the hall. I felt my tanned face go hot, as they looked my way. Head low, I started walking to my class. I peered up to see if they were still looking, and found myself looking at Cleo.

I gasped, considering she moved quickly. She started, "Listen Avery, we all…"

I looked both ways down the hall. No one was there. I put my hand up to her books, and forced my hand in a jutting motion to the ground. Her books fell out of her arms and fell to the ground.

She bent down to pick them up, after giving me a hurt look.

I opened my mouth, shut it, and then opened it again. "Cleo, I don't…I'm really…I mean I'm not…I'm still mad…" I stopped talking. I just didn't have to right words. Tears swarming my vision, and I turned the other way and took off.

I rounded a corner, and hid behind it. I glanced out to see Cleo still picking up her books and papers that fell out of their designated folders. One paper—I remembered it to be World History homework, because I had that same class too—was in a puddle of water that had sat on the floor. Cleo was trying to pick it up without getting wet.

Feeling really bad, I stuck my hand out and twisted it. Cleo's books floated off the ground, and I got up the paper that had fallen. I used my power to get off the water, and stacked it all neatly in a floating pile. Cleo straightened up, and uncertainly held out her arms. I dropped her things in them.

Cleo turned to look at me, but I had already disappeared down the corner.

OoOoOoO

I tapped my pencil randomly against my desk. I was a very impatient person, and it didn't help that the bell was taking its time to ring and Mr. Starch's chalk tapping against the blackboard was _really_ starting to annoy me.

I switched my pencil with my fingers. I started tapping _them_ to my desk, which annoyed me a lot more than Mr. Starch's chalk.

It was last period, and I couldn't _wait_ to go home—no, to go back to my apartment. No, to go back to _the_ apartment.

At least I could look forward to my date with Shane. That was pretty much the only thing I was looking forward to.

"And that, class, is the layers of the skin," said Mr. Starch. Pens scratched paper as students wrote down notes for the upcoming test. Mr. Starch doesn't like the term "test," so he uses "assessment," instead. I have no idea why it makes a difference, considering it's the same exact thing.

The bell finally rang, and we all sighed as we gathered our books in a pile. While walking out, I heard, "Don't forget to study for your assessment!"

When he said assessment, we all shouted back, "Test!"

I dumped my books in my locker, and selected the things I needed to finish today's homework. Then I pushed out the door and walked out into the warm sunshine.

I walked to the apartment buildings, and into my apartment—ahem, _the_ apartment.

I dropped my books on my bed, and peered out the window. I saw Shane leaving his shift, and being taken over by someone else. I smiled. Perfect.

I threw on the perfect violet dress, which sort of smelled like Cleo's vanilla perfume, and walked down to the exit.

Cody—Shane's replacement—was standing in front of the door. "Why so gussied up?" Cody asked, that sweet southern accent of his coming out of his words. He winked. "Got a hot date tonight?"

I smiled. "You could say that."

I headed to the beach. I was destined for a good swim to calm my nerves about my date, and Cleo, Emma and Rikki.

I walked into the ocean, the salt water staining my perfect, shiny black shoes. I really didn't care. Once I was dry, they'd be restored to their normal looks.

I dived in, realizing I was spending too much time standing and enjoying the water on my legs, which were soon not to be legs.

I watched as my legs morphed into my tail, and I jet-speed swam to Mako. There, I surfaced in the back of the moon pool, near the underwater entrance.

"You think she's coming to Emma's party?" asked Cleo, who was hanging onto the edge of the moon pool.

"I doubt it," said Rikki, who was facing Cleo.

I tried to make myself scarce, and ducked under the water; the only thing showing was my eyes.

Cleo twisted her hand, and a water ball appeared out of the moon pool water. She played around with it, fiddling with it and separating it.

"Would you stop?" asked Rikki. I could tell it was really getting on her nerves. When Cleo didn't stop, Rikki lifted her hand out of the water and clenched her fist. The water ball evaporated.

I ducked back under the water. I had almost forgotten about Emma's party!

Did I want to go? Yes and no. Emma was my friend, and it would mean a lot if I went, even if we were in a fight. No, because I really didn't want to face Emma, Cleo and Rikki.

I went back to The Gold Coast shore, and dried off. In place of my tail was a violet dress, violet choker and purse, and black shoes—all perfect and untouched.

I walked back to the apartment, and was met by Shane. He remarked on how pretty I looked.

"I thought we could go for a swim at the beach first," Shane said, nodding in the direction of the beach.

I shrugged. "I don't really like swimming all that much," I put in.

"How could you not like swimming?" Shane said, pretending to faint, putting a hand over his heart. I laughed and hit him.

We walked along the beach, enjoying the waves splashing on the shore and the sound of seagulls cawing in the sky. I slipped off my black shoes and held them in my hand, feeling the warm sand beneath my feet. I always did prefer barefoot.

Shane and I stopped at a local fancy restaurant. A waiter that looked a little uptight led us to our seats.

Shane started to crack me up with stories of what he had did with his high school buddies when we were waiting for our food we had ordered. And by the looks of it, his teachers must have _hated_ him.

We were laughing so loud that everyone in the restaurant turned to look. Once we saw that they were staring, we immediately stopped. Once they returned to eating their food, we giggled lightly.

"Busted," Shane whispered. I bit back my laugh.

I thought it was so cool Shane wouldn't care where we were, just so long as we had fun.

When the waiter arrived with out food (I had ordered turkey, Shane ordered steak), Shane talked in this weird accent that I couldn't even put a name on. It was a cross between a British and an Italian accent.

Once the waiter was really confused, I cracked. I laughed and laughed until it was more of a hysterical laugh. The waiter rolled his eyes and muttered, "Very funny," setting down our plates.

Once we were done eating, he said, "I'll give you one more chance for that swim."

I rolled my eyes. "Once again, no!"

We laughed until we got to my apartment, where he kissed me goodnight. I smiled and went into my apartment.

**A/N: Awww :). So the next chapter is Avery's baby-sitting job at the Ramseys'. Review!**


	9. Avery's BabySitting Job

A/N: Sorry for the kind of late update, but I didn't feel like writing at the time, I had writers' block, and I had a sleepover. So I'm tired. AND I was sick (but not sick enough to miss school, just sick enough to give me a headache and made me feel like crap.) But I finally was able to reach a computer, and I'll write the chapter anyway.

Disclaimer: I do not own H2O.

Chapter 7: Avery's Baby-sitting Job

_Thursday_

I drowsily got up out of my bed at the sound of my neighbor's alarm clock. I yawned. It was a Thursday, practically a Friday. And Fridays mean the weekend.

I grabbed my bag out of the corner of my dusty room. I ran my finger over a worn part of it, sighing.

I got changed, getting into a lime green shirt with a neon pink peace sign on it, and dark jeans. I grabbed my bag and threw it over my shoulder. I grabbed aimlessly at the doorknob, and stepped out.

Sunlight poured in through the curtained window at the end of the hall. I shuffled my sneakers around in the worn carpet to get to the elevator.

I went out the door, and received a hug from Shane. "You know," he said, "I'm still going to badger you about swimming."

My stomach dropped. If I'd known he was going to be so wrapped up in the water, I would have done something about it. So I just said, "In you dreams," and left for school.

OoOoOoO

School dragged on by as usual. I bumped into Cleo, Emma and Rikki more than once, and I had to admit, I kind of missed them. But what they said was harsh and mean, so I didn't think I could just forgive them just like that.

Lewis stopped me when I was heading to Science, the last subject I had that day. I really wasn't in the mood, though.

"Lewis, _move_," I commanded, sidestepping to the right of him. Of course he moved with me.

"Hear me out, Avery," he pleaded. "Your friendship with the girls is too strong to be broken after a little fight."

"_Lewis_," I said, a little more assertively, "I need to leave. What they said to me was none of your business." I slumped a little. "They probably told you anyway. But they can't take back what they said, and that's totally fine with me. I bet there are plenty of other mermaids in the sea."

I shoved past him, in no mood to argue with him any further. I stormed off.

OoOoOoO

I had to be happy for my baby-sitting job. But that suddenly didn't seem too possible.

While walking home, I even argued with myself whether or not to cancel the job because I was so upset. But I knew I couldn't do that to Ms. Ramsey. I guess I could make it through four hours with Jack and Amber.

I stopped at a corner store to peer into it. I saw little dolls and candy strewn across the window. I smiled, and entered the store.

I had to dig around for some money in my pocket, but I managed to just have enough to buy the things I needed.

I put my paid items in my bag, and started back for the apartment building. I checked my watch. It read 3:46 p.m. That meant I had fourteen minutes to do what I wanted.

I came back to the apartment and dropped my stuff off. I wanted to look nice for the Ramsey family, so I ran a brush through my hair, threw on some nicer looking clothes (not too nice), and dug around in my jewelry box for a second. Most of the things in there were crummy. But there was one that outshone them all.

An ember crystal jewel lay nestled on a square of gold. I flipped over the necklace, and saw the engraving, clearly stating the name, _Jovana_.

I smiled and slipped the leather cord around my neck. I grasped the crystal-on-gold ensemble, and smiled.

I checked my purple watch again. I gasped as I realized it was close to 4 o'clock, and if I wanted to get going, I needed to leave. I grabbed my bag with my belongings and headed out.

I went a floor up, and stepped out of the elevator. I walked along the hallway until I got to room 13C. I knocked quietly on the wooden door, not wanting to disturb any of the neighbors in the apartment.

The Ramsey's apartment was one of the nicer ones. Ms. Ramsey was on the verge of moving out and getting a real house, but she isn't sure of where to move that would be affordable.

A slightly frazzled looking woman opened the door. She smiled that bright, warm smile of hers, pushed back her blonde hair, and motioned for me to come in.

Ms. Ramsey—she insisted I call her Linda—was an interior decorator. She always decorated her living room different ways, mixing it up every few months or so. Right now it had a casual theme to it.

Amber greeted me first. She was a little 6-year-old girl who was very bouncy and energetic. It was pretty hard to keep her in one spot while holding still, and if you do, you should win the Nobel Prize. Amber has a very creative imagination, always dreaming up things to do when people are bored. She can always think up a good story, packed with juicy details. I imagine her to be a writer when she grows up. She had curly dark brown hair that framed her face perfectly, and dark lashes I had always been jealous of. She also had dark eyes.

"Hi, Avery!" she sang loudly. She wrapped her arms around my leg.

When she had finally released her grip, I bent down and stared into her eyes. "Hey, Amber, I got a surprise for you and for Jack."

She gasped in excitement. "Really? What is it?"

"You have to go get Jack," I said. Amber immediately raced to go find Jack.

I straightened up. Linda laid a hand on my shoulder, and said, "Really, Avery, you didn't have to."

"Oh, yes I did. You guys are my neighbors."

Amber raced back into the room, tugging along a slightly chubby 5-year-old. Jack.

Jack was an artistic boy. He loved anything paint, crayon, marker, or colored-pencil related. Give him a pencil and an array of coloring supplies and he'd draw you a rainbow. He had brown hair like his sister, and ocean blue eyes. Jack also loved to eat. When he grows up, I defiantly see him as an artist.

"Hi, Avery," said Jack.

"Hello," I said. "I imagine Amber already told you that I have a surprise for you two." I cast a quick glance at Amber.

He bobbed his head up and down. I threw a glance at Ms. Ramsey, who was checking her watch.

"Well, I've got to go. Avery, the emergency numbers are on the fridge, and for dinner, the casserole is in the fridge. All you have to do is heat it up in the microwave." Linda kissed Amber and Jack's heads, and then took off.

I plunged my hand in my bag, and shuffled around some of the items there. I plucked out two items.

"Cool!" exclaimed Jack, as he received his crayons and coloring book.

"What's there for me?" asked Amber excitedly. I brought back out a doll for her.

"Thanks!" she said, and started to play with her doll.

Everything went by fairly well. I played dolls with Amber, and Jack colored in his book.

It was only until I heard a loud _crash_ outside the room. My head snapped up abruptly.

"You two stay here," I said to the kids, not looking at them, but looking in the direction of the door. "I'll be right back."

I slowly brought myself up. I hastily took a few steps out of the living room and towards the door. Another sound was heard, this time more like a _bang_. I gasped and jumped back, my hand covering my mouth.

I reached out for the knob, and observed my incredibly shaky hand. I grasped the knob, and turned it. Bit by bit, the door creaked open to reveal a man dressed in black, holding a bag.

Once he spotted me, I was roughly pushed to the floor. I gasped as he stormed in, demanding for money.

I gulped. This wasn't good. I unsteadily got up. I took a few slow steps backwards.

I let my fingers fall to something around my neck—_my necklace_. I took a steadying breath, and stroked it.

All of a sudden, my eyelids flew open. I felt energy, stronger than ever before. I didn't know what was happening, but all of a sudden I felt better than anything. The robber made a fist, and prepared for another blow.

I waved a hand in front of the robber's face, half asking myself what the heck I was doing, and another knowing exactly what to do.

The man started for me, then he halted, his expression left blank. A smile crept on my face, and I felt the power coming from my necklace, even though I partly had no idea what was going on.

"You were just leaving, right?" Was that _my_ voice? That velvet, purring voice that sounded nothing like my own voice?

He unhurriedly nodded, still looking as if he were put in a trance. He then turned around. The robber marched right out the door.

I put down my hand, looked at my necklace—and gasped. It was _glowing_; it was glowing a golden glow.

But it slowly died down, returning to only its regular jewel and gold piece.

I turned around and saw a scared looking Amber and Jack hiding behind the corner. I knew there was nothing I could say to them to comfort them—what _could_ I say? "Don't worry, I called upon a weird force that was somehow in this necklace that I didn't even know was there, and he left because he was put into—I mean, I guess _I_ put him into—a trance." Yeah, probably not.

"He's gone know," I whispered, and ushered them to return to their toys in the living room.

Later, even Mr. Ship's casserole couldn't get rid of the gnawing feeling in the pit of my stomach, which soon grew and grew. It was a bad feeling, like I had more to find out. One unanswered question swarmed my brain: Why had my necklace given off that power to ward off that robber?

A/N: Why had the necklace done what it did? Where did the necklace come from, and whose name was engraved in the back? You'll get closer to Avery's secret in the next chapter of Secrets of the Deep! (Lol, I feel like a TV ad.)


	10. Mysteries Arise

**A/N: Happy Chapter Reading! Thanks to my reviewers for last chapter:**

**Marril96: Good guess on whom it came from. We'll see soon if you're right!**

**tyrone beard: Yes, you are right, you are close to finding out her secret…but I can't tell you how close. We'll find out…**

**Disclaimer: I do not own H2O.**

Mysteries AriseFriday

My stomach was twisted into knots all night long. I just couldn't get my head cleared about that necklace.

Linda had even come to my door and asked why Amber and Jack were saying I somehow scared off a robber with my necklace. I just laughed, and ruffled Amber's hair (she had come with Linda to ask me.) "What an imagination," I marveled. "No, the day went fine."

But Amber insisted that I did. I got even more worried that she might _tell_ people. What if they linked it to my secret? Okay, that was a little far-fetched, how someone could connect a wild story told by a child to me being a mermaid.

But it didn't matter, because I still had that big ol' knot in my stomach, which I couldn't get rid of. I felt like I wanted to throw up.

I climbed out of bed, and stared at the window. It had just rained that morning—pretty rare around these parts, but not impossible—and the rain left streaks across the window.

I sighed, backing away from the window. I checked my watch. I knew I had to get ready soon to make it, so I pulled on some clothes and got ready.

I was about to leave and go out the door, when I remembered about my necklace. There came the knots again.

I sat myself back on the bed, and took a few deep, slowing breaths. After a while, I knew I just couldn't do it today. I wasn't ready, and I physically couldn't do it.

I picked up my cell phone, and coughed a while, clearing my throat. I dialed a number, and held the ringing phone up to my ear.

"Hello," I said, once the office picked up. I was using my best deep voice. Bishop had picked up, and I knew she wouldn't be easy to fool, because I knew she recognized my voice from my countless hours spent in her office for being late, detentions, and other things I cannot mention. "This is Avery Peacock's dad, and I'd like to inform her school that she is sick, so she will not be able to make it to school. Thank you, have a good evening, ma'am."

I hung up, and stared at the phone in my hand disbelievingly. I didn't believe that I had just done that. I also couldn't believe Bishop had bought it.

I looked out the window at Shane. He was checking his watch, and nervously looking at the door. He was probably wondering where I was, since school was about to start.

I saw Shane saunter back into the apartment. I quickly jumped into bed, and pulled the covers over my clothes.

I heard the door knob jiggle around a while, then a, "Avery? Can you open the door?"

I twisted my hand, unlocking the door. I hid my arm back under the bed cover so Shane couldn't see my sleeve. Shane immediately came in. When seeing me in my bed, he asked why I wasn't in school.

"Sick," I muttered in my best sick voice. I fake coughed, which ended pretty badly in a squeak. I silently cursed myself. Why did I have to be such a bad actress?

Shane insisted to stay here, but I said I'd just be here all day, and if I needed something, I'd just yell (which I wouldn't be needing anything, since I wasn't really sick.)

"Alright," he finally gave in. He headed to the door, where I stopped him.

"Wait, Shane," I said.

"Need something already?" he teased with a smile.

"Shane, there's a reason I don't want to go swimming with you," I said, eyeing the glass of water on my bedside table.

"And what would that be?" he asked.

I was about to reach for the glass, when Emma's face popped in my mind. "Don't do it Avery," she warned, his tone and expression both dead serious. Her blonde hair was pulled into a ponytail like any other regular day.

"We hardly know him." Now Rikki was in my head, her blue eyes fuming with hatred and anger.

Cleo joined the gang. "But of course, you're too wrapped up in this to care that this is _our_ secret, too." She glared at me with dagger eyes.

They started yelling at me, word after hateful word. The thing that snapped me back was Shane saying, "Avery? What do you want to tell me?"

I shook my head, clearing my thoughts. "Uh, nothing. Never mind. I'll tell you later." Then he left.

I sighed and slumped back on my lumpy pillow. Why did this have to be so hard?

Cleo POV

"Have you guys seen Avery today?" I asked when I approached Rikki, Emma and Lewis in the hallway.

"No, not at all. But I did hear something weird when walking to school," Lewis said, his voice drawn serious.

"What?" Emma asked.

"Two little kids—a boy and a girl—were walking in front of me with their mother. The girl tugged on her mom's arm, and said, 'But really! She really did use her necklace! It was like magic!'"

"Where is this going Lewis?" asked an impatient Rikki.

Lewis continued, "The mom said tiredly, 'Amber, I do not have time for this. Avery did _not_ use her necklace, she did not scare off any so-called robber, and nothing ever happened!'"

"Do you think that's _our_ Avery?" I asked.

"That's kind of what I was getting at," Lewis said.

"But how could that be?" asked Emma. "She can't control anything."

"Maybe it wasn't her, but her _necklace_," said Rikki.

"But what necklace?" I asked. "She doesn't usually wear any necklaces."

We sat in silence for a while. After a few minutes, Lewis's face lit up like a Christmas tree. "_Usually_."

"What?" exclaimed Emma. I could tell Rikki was confused too, and I admit, I was a bit puzzled myself.

"Usually. She does wear a necklace once in a while, right?" asked Lewis.

"Yeah, but it's always the same one," I put in. "That gold square with a gem on top."

"Which is unusual," remarked Rikki. "Her clothes are usually—and I love her when I say this—crappy. I mean, like holes in them, pretty dirty…you know. But that necklace must have been expensive."

"She came to me for a dress to wear for her date," I piped up. "She didn't have anything else to wear."

"Wait," said Emma. "She went on a date? Why didn't you tell us?"

"That's not important. I didn't know who she was going out with myself."

"Oh!" said Rikki, bouncing up and down like a chipmunk. "She lives at an orphanage! She's an orphan!"

"Isn't that pretty far-fetched?" asked Lewis. "I don't think she'd be living at an orphanage at this age."

"No, she's seventeen. She has to be eighteen to be considered an adult and not live in an orphanage—_if_ she's an orphan," Emma said. She paused. "I think."

"Plus, she moved here about a year ago," I said. "I don't think she'd move if she lived in an orphanage."

"Maybe she already is adopted," said Rikki.

"That _still_ wouldn't make sense," said Lewis. "If she were adopted, why couldn't we meet her parents that adopted her, and she would pretend it's her real parents until she gained enough courage to tell us the truth?"

"So she's not adopted," drew out Emma slowly. "So what is it about her?"

I could tell we were all wondering the same thing.

Avery POV

-Times Shane Came Up To Check On Me: 22

-Times He Asked Me If I Wanted Chicken Soup: 13

-Times I Wondered What Emma, Cleo And Rikki Were Doing: 17

-Times I Wondered If They Cared That We Weren't Talking To Each Other: 34

-Times I Attempted To Show Shane My Secret: 8

-Times I Felt Bad About This Whole Thing—And I Mean _Everything_: 79

That was pretty much my list of that day. I had nothing else to do, so I brainstormed a list. All in all, I felt bad about pretending to be sick, and I just wish this whole situation would disappear.

I checked my watch. My school would just be letting out right about now.

I sat up in bed and took a deep breath. I still had to figure out what to do about tomorrow. Tomorrow was Emma's birthday. I didn't know what the girls figured I would do, but I still had a big decision to make.

After a while of thinking it all through, I finally came up with my answer.

**A/N: So what will she do? Will she go? Will she stay? Only one way to find out: review!**


	11. Emma's Party

A/N: This one and the next one are probably going to be my favorite chapters to write. Oh, and thanks to all my lovely reviewers *waves a gloved hand out the sunroof of the limo I'm riding in* "Thanks to you all! I will thank you all at the awards!"

Um…I was bored. Awkward moment. Um…let's get on to reading.

Disclaimer: I do not own H2O.

Emma's Party

_Saturday_

Here I was, back again at Saturday. It didn't seem that just a week ago my life started to change a lot. And it all started with that stupid dream, and it all ended with that stupid baby-sitting job.

Those were the worst seven days in my life. Never before had I experienced something more dreadful then losing friendship.

No, scratch that. There was one thing worse, but I didn't really want to think about it.

I decided I was done. Done with this all. I was done with this stupid fight. Completely done. And I was also done with this idiotic secret.

I decided to change all of this, and I needed to take it one step at a time.

I went into my cramped and dirty bathroom and threw on Cleo's black shoes and shimmied into her dress (the same ensemble that I wore on my date with Shane.) The only different thing is that I didn't put on her choker, but my necklace instead (the one I wore on my baby-sitting job.) I put it on with no hesitation or resistance, which was strange for a magical necklace that scared away a robber that I might have been resistant with.

I looked down at my necklace. Tears formed in the edges of my eyes when I looked at it. I quickly wiped them away, and grabbed Emma's birthday present, which I worked hard on.

I threw on a jacket and stuffed the things in the pocket. I defiantly wouldn't want a jacket in the midst of the incredibly hot weather outside, but I needed the pockets.

I rushed out into the hallway, realizing if I didn't get a move on I'd be late to the party. Lately I had been late to a lot of things, so this didn't frazzle me.

I skidded down the hall and was caught in Shane's arms. He kissed my forehead, but I was in no mood to be romantic. I was late.

I wiggled, trying to free myself. "In a hurry?" asked Shane.

"Yeah," I said breathlessly. Without thinking, I also said, "Meeting some friends to swim."

"Ah ha!" Shane said. "So the girl does swim."

"Not now," I grunted. "I don't swim. I was kidding." I bounced out of his arms and stormed off.

I ran to the ocean, and without hesitation, jumped in. Once my tail had formed, I patted my sides. Sure enough, the jacket with the present was gone. I really hadn't tried it before, but I guess it disappeared like my clothes.

I swam past the coral reefs and brilliant colored fish. I didn't have time to marvel though, since I was running a little behind schedule.

I flicked my long bronze tail and jet speed swam all the way to Mako. It didn't take much effort, being a mermaid and all.

I stopped at the entrance of the moon pool. I squeezed my eyes shut, and then opened them. I swam into the moon pool.

"Happy birthday, Emma," I saw Ash say, hugging his girlfriend tight.

"Please, Ash, it's her birthday, not the end of the world and you won't see her again," said Rikki, crossing her arms. Emma rolled her eyes at Rikki.

Cleo clung to the edge of the moon pool in mermaid form. She hoisted herself out and into the sand. She looked pointedly Rikki. She cleared her throat. "Um, a little help, please Rikki," Cleo said. Rikki ran over to her and clenched her fist.

That gave me enough time to look around (it was pretty hard to look around while trying to blend in.) The place was decorated in streamers of Emma's favorite color. A table was set up in the background with red punch, chips and dip, a cake, and a small laptop I recognized as Zane's playing Emma's favorite songs.

I made a quick decision, and put my hand up from above the water. I twisted it, and water rose from the moon pool. I concentrated hard, and made the ball of water separate into four smaller ones. Everyone watched as those balls shaped in letters.

"Cleo? Are you doing that?" asked Emma. Cleo, now in human form, slowly shook her head.

I brought my head up above the water higher, so they could see it. Zane raised his eyebrows, and Lewis hopped up and down like a girl. "She's back!" he mouthed to Ash, who nodded.

My grin spread across my face. "Freeze them, Emma!" I cried.

A dazed Emma stepped forward out of Ash's grip and froze the letters. I made sure to keep them up with my power and not have them fall on my head and into the moon pool.

I set the letters down on the table. All together, they spelled, "EMMA." They sparkled in the sunlight streaming in from the Mako volcano top.

"There," I said with a smile, hoisting myself up onto the sandy ground of the moon pool. "Ice sculpture. Enjoy them while they last—they'll melt soon enough."

Emma ran over to me and hugged me. "It's so good to have you back!" she cried.

I laughed, and pried her off of me. "You've got about two seconds," I said.

She looked at me quizzically. Then she fell to the floor as a mermaid.

"What the heck?" she said, looking at her tail. I motioned to my wet body.

"Ohhh," she said, caught up. Rikki lumbered over to us, muttering random things. She balled her fist over each of our tails, and they disappeared.

After getting up and regaining my balance, I was showered with hugs. After the hug fest, they demanded for explanations as to why I had come.

"Wait a sec," I said, shrugging of my jacket. I was getting pretty hot under it. I dug in one of its pockets and took out my gifts. I flung my jacket on the ground.

I handed Emma a CD. I said, "It's a CD with a lot of pictures and videos of us," I said with a smile. "Who knew with my power I could put things on CDs?"

She hugged me. "Thank you!" she squealed.

"There's more. It's kind of a present for all of us." I presented my wrist, which bore a silver chain bracelet with a charm dangling off it. "_Avery_" was printed on the charm.

I took out three more bracelets and handed them to the corresponding girl.

"It was pretty easy to find the name "_Emma_," but "_Rikki_" was probably the hardest." I shot a glance at Emma and Rikki.

"Okay," drawled Cleo. "_Now_ can you tell us why you decided to come here?" She stopped. "Not to be rude or anything."

"_And_ did you stop a robber with your necklace?" asked Lewis, popping in the conversation.

I grabbed my necklace. "Have they been spreading that?" I asked. "I was afraid that would happen!"

"I overheard a little girl talking about it to her mother," admitted Lewis.

"Amber," I growled. "Honestly, that girl is sweet and adorable, but can be extremely annoying." I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, but what _was_ that?" asked Cleo.

Silence. Dead silence. That was what echoed throughout the moon pool.

"I'm sorry," I said, tears streaming down my face. "I messed up big time. I didn't tell you guys anything. That was a mistake, considering you guys are the best friends anyone can have," I said, even though it was _very_ off topic than what she had asked.

"No, we were jerks," said Rikki. "Always wanting to know everything, being downright annoying, blah, blah, blah."

I hugged each and every one of them again, and sat myself down on the edge of the moon pool.

"Well, this seems like a girl talk, so we're going to go," said Lewis, tugging the boys. Ash kissed Emma's head, whispering "Happy birthday," Zane kissed Rikki, and Lewis kissed Cleo. I felt a little stab of jealousy as I watched the happy couples, really hoping that Shane could be here.

"Okay," I said, breathing out and in for a long time after the boys were gone. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out. I tried to slow my racing hear.

"So," I said, once the girls were settled at the edge of the moon pool with me (Rikki brought a cup of punch.) "Where do I start?"

"The beginning," Rikki said, mouth full of punch.

"Uh…" I nervously laughed. "First, you need to know that my real name isn't Avery."

As I watched Rikki spit her punch across the moon pool, and saw Emma and Cleo's horrified looks, I realized that I needed to explain a lot. And I meant a _lot._

A/N: Oooh, a cliffhanger! Mostly throughout this story I haven't done a lot of these, so why not at the climax? (Insert evil laughter here, followed by roll of thunder and crash of lightning.) Reviews=gold!


	12. The Truth

A/N: I am so evil as to leave you at a cliffhanger. BUT, the chapter is up now, so take a deep breath, and please read! :)

**Disclaimer: I do not own H2O: Just Add Water.**

The TruthSaturday

"So who wants this absolutely delicious cake?" I asked, breaking the silence that had now settled among us. I used my powers to have the cake float over to us. "Mm, vanilla! My favorite!"

"Wait, wait," interrupted Emma. "It's my birthday, so I say you continue with your story that you haven't even started yet."

I scowled and set the cake back on the table.

"So what is your real name then?" asked Cleo.

"Aysel," I said, pronouncing the "Ay," like "Ah," like if you were screaming, and "-sel," like "Sell," or "Cell."

"Ah-cell," Rikki said, carefully pronouncing each part.

"Exotic…different," Emma said slowly. "And exactly why do you have such an odd name? And why do you make people call you Avery?"

"I was getting to that part of my little anecdote," I said. "Okay, let's just say that I have such a funky name because I am not technically from here."

"Well, yeah," said Rikki. "You moved here, so you'd not be from here."

I gave a nervous laugh. "Actually, by I'm not from here, I don't mean just…_here here_."

"Where exactly?" asked Emma, now interested.

I sighed, and unhooked my necklace. I turned it over and rubbed the engraving.

"Jovana," I whispered, and sighed. "She was my mom. I only ever had a mom. My dad was killed by a bombing."

"That's so sad," Cleo said, covering her heart. I gave a weak smile, and continued with a deep breath, "I actually live on an island."

"An island?" Emma said, raising her eyebrows. "Which one?"

"Pretty small," I admitted. "It won't show up on most to all maps. But it has plenty of room for around two hundred citizens and a king, queen, and two princesses. We had a monarchial type of government.

"The king was killed, though. That left the queen to care for the island _and_ her two little girls, which are now seventeen and fourteen."

"Were you friends with the seventeen year old?" Cleo asked, touching my hand.

I laughed. "Close. I _am_ that seventeen year old."

Once again, Rikki's punch flew everywhere. Emma said, "Wait…so you're, like…Princess Aysel?"

I laughed again. It seemed so weird now, since no one had called me that in a year, only "Avery."

"I told them to only call me Aysel. I didn't like the 'princess' part," I said. "The island was 'Moonlight Island.' I was named after it, because 'Aysel' means 'moonlight.'"

"So why'd you come here?" Rikki asked.

I sighed. "That's the complicated part. First, let me explain something else. We had a servant named Feglio. He was more like a family friend than a servant. He was like my second father. He even proposed to my mother once, but understood when she said no, that she was way to busy running the island. You must also understand once I am old enough, or my mother passes away, I was to become queen, since I am older than my sister Dafina."

"Alright," said Cleo. "Then what?"

By this point, I was completely confident and sure of myself that I made that right decision to tell them. They hadn't had too bad reactions to the truth I had told so far. "I was wandering around the island, like I wasn't supposed to, when I ventured across a hole in a huge rock, big enough for about two people to slid down, side-by-side. I examined the opening with great interest, but I wasn't careful enough. I lost my footing, and slid right down that slippery hole. I twisted my ankle pretty badly, and found myself in a cave much like here," I said, motioning around the Mako cave we were now sitting in. "I found a moon pool, and was very intrigued with it. I limped to the moon pool with my twisted ankle, and realized the only way to get out was to swim underneath. I threw off my shoes, and got close to the edge. At the last moment, I changed my mind, but fell in. I made a huge splash, and got to the top of the water. I looked up, and saw a huge, full moon illuminating the top of the opening at the crown of the cave. Bubbles flew up into the direction of the moon, while I panicked, but didn't dare move much. When it was over, I took a deep breath and swam out. When I got home, I got scolded by my mother for worrying her, and ruining my clothes. I explained that I was adventuring, and I lost my way, which was a teeny white lie. I stripped off my wet clothes and changed into dry ones, and went to bed.

"The next morning…well, you can probably guess what happened. I was taking a bath and sprouted a tail right there in the middle of it. I was alarmed, and dragged my mermaid self to my room, where Dafina came in and saw me. I pleaded her not to tell. I discovered my powers not long after that—about a few days.

"Then it all went bad two weeks later. I was at a ceremony with my mother. Everyone was there. I was limping from my twisted ankle, and my mother was helping me walk. Dafina was walking by my side, drinking from a bottle of water. She was talking to the people, and answering their questions. Just then I tripped, and my mother lost my grip on me. I fell on Dafina, who in return, accidentally spilled her water on me. She pushed me to leave towards the ocean, but that only made me scream in pain of my ankle. The crowd was silent then.

"So I turned into a mermaid, then and there. I toppled over, tail and all. My face down in the sand, I was relived my foot was gone, and the pain was too. I sat up, and spit out sand that had seeped into my mouth. Then I saw the crowd looking at me."

"What did you do?" The voice startled me. I saw Emma looking at me in question. I forgot that they were there since they hadn't spoken in so long.

I laughed. "I freaked out, obviously. I begged the citizens not to be mad or alarmed, and that I didn't even understand it well myself. Shouts of opinions rang out throughout the crowd. That I should be dissected. That I should leave. And then I was completely dry, and turned back into a human, where more gasps arose. I told them that it had happened at this weird pool under the volcano, and that I had slipped in by accident through a hole. Water was splashed on my mother and Dafina to see if I was lying and that it was genetic. I ran back to our house, and cried my eyes out, and wouldn't let anyone in until night.

"I realized what I had to do to insure everyone's safety, so I did it. I wrote my mother a letter." I brought out a crumpled piece of paper with ink on it. "Of course, it never got to my mother."

I read out loud,

_Dear mother, Dafina, Feglio, and anyone else who would care,_

_By the time you read this, I'll probably be gone. I have left our island so that you won't see me again. You most likely think I'm a freak. So I left. I really hope that you, mother, will have a better time taking care of one child. And I hope you, Dafina, have a great time being queen. I always knew you were destined to become a great ruler. And Feglio? Take care of them, will you? I'll never forget you all._

_Sincerely forever,_

_Aysel_

A tear dropped on the letter as I put it back in my pocket. "I was just done writing it when my mother came in. She said that the villagers had formed a mob and was headed our way. I told her that I had to leave. She protested for me to stay, but as we heard the buzz of the crowd, she tugged me along.

"Along the way, I had taken a good look around to try to remember the island. I didn't want to leave, but I knew I had to. But how could I just have leaved like that?

"'Come on, we have to go!' she called, when she sensed that I lacked behind. I knew that she didn't want me to go, but knew I had to.

"Once at the shore, she tugged off her necklace and tied it around me. I recognized it as her favorite necklace, made from the very few gold and jewels we had on the island, by Feglio. She kissed me on the cheek, then shouted, 'Go!'

"I ran to the shore and dived it. My eyes stung from the water, and I swam away. A week before today I had a dream about this last scene, but it skipped the part where my mother gave me the necklace. It also showed that my mother pushed me into the ocean, like she _wanted_ me to go. But in reality, I was actually the one to dive in and swim away.

"I swam to here. I lived on the street for a while, but worked a lot to get enough money for food and a small apartment in not the best apartment buildings around. That's why I didn't want you guys to see where I lived, or my parents, because I don't live with my parents."

"But how do you afford school?" asked Rikki.

"I'm in one of those programs for free lunch and supplies and things like that," I said simply. I wrapped my hand around the necklace that lies around my neck. I pulled down hard, and it came off.

"This necklace is cursed," I said. "How else would it have scared the robber away? And who knows what else it can do?" Without knowing what I was doing, I stood up. With a good arm, I heaved the necklace into the pool.

It stayed on the top for not too long, then sunk to the bottom. I sighed and sat down, my knees touching my chin.

"Avery!" Emma cried, and dived in. She stayed down for a while.

"I think she meant 'Aysel,'" said Cleo quietly. "What do you want us to call you?"

"In public, Avery," I said. "In private, whichever you like better."

"Emma'll probably call you Avery," said Rikki. "Me too. I'm more used to it."

"I'll call you Aysel," said Cleo with a smile. "I like it."

Just then, Emma surfaced. "I can't find it," she said.

"Good!" I spat. "It's cursed."

"But what if it was your mother trying to communicate with you and protect you?" asked Rikki.

Silence filled the air. Dead silence. Then rushing water filled my ears as I dived into the moon pool.

I sifted the bottom sand, moving it around with my hands. I pushed aside cracked shells and other things that littered the ground. When my lungs were desperate for oxygen, I surfaced. Emma, Cleo and Rikki were hanging around the moon pool.

"I couldn't find it," I said. "But I _have_ to!"

"Can't this Feglio person make a new one? Wait, you don't have contact with him, do you?" asked Emma.

"Actually, yes. He calls a few times a week to give me updates. Since I left, the hole that leads to the moon pool was boarded up, as well as the underwater entrance. My mother has been taking extra care of Dafina—more like smothering her. The citizens almost voted a new queen—even though our island doesn't run that way—but they eventually kept her."

"We'll find your necklace later," said Rikki. I climbed out of the moon pool and she dried me off. "Right now," she continued with a smile, "Can we see your apartment?"

I grinned and nodded. So off we went to go meet Shane and see my apartment. That's right. _My_ apartment.

**A/N: So they are going to see her apartment…what next? O.o Oh, yeah, and tell me what you thought of Avery's past (if you liked it, and it really caught your attention, or if you thought it sucked.) But for now, byes! (-.-) (-.-) (-.-) - Think my dancing Kirby is cute? XD Okay I'm leaving for real now, bye!**


	13. Clearing up the Facts

**A/N: Next chapter!**

Clearing Up the Facts Saturday

I pulled myself up onto the shore and Rikki dried us all off. Once we all had legs, we set out to my apartment.

"It's pretty old," I admitted shamefully. "And dirty. And pathetic. But enough for me."

"Enough for a princess?" asked Rikki jokingly.

I kicked her. She smiled and tried to tackle me, where Cleo and Emma broke us apart.

"So," I said, once everything was situated. "What's going on? I haven't talked to you guys in forever, and all we're talking about is me."

"Bishop is dating my father," put in Cleo.

That hit me like a ton of bricks. Bishop. DATING? Cleo's _father_?

"What the heck?" I couldn't help screeching. "They only met when she came over to your house…uh, and we saw them talking…and laughing…" I trailed off. "Ohh, I'm caught up now."

"You also made the honor roll in school," said Emma. "It was put up Friday, so you missed it."

"Me?" I squeaked. "The _honor roll_? But that's only for smart people!"

"You _are_ smart," said Rikki. "Lewis made it too."

"I'm not surprised," I said in a bored expression.

We had finally made it to the apartment building. I went up to Shane and introduced him to them.

"Shane, these are the guys. Guys, this is Shane, my boy—" I stopped. Slowly starting again, I said, "The doorman."

"Avery never brings friends here," said Shane. I blushed.

"Well, we're going up to my apartment," I said. I started walking past him. He caught me around me waist and kissed me. My blush deepened as I made my way inside.

"Oh, so that's mystery man?" asked Cleo jokingly. I shot her dagger eyes as I showed them upstairs.

"Okay," I said, taking a deep breath when we got outside my door. "It's not perfect, but its—like I said—enough for me." I shot a look at Rikki as she covered her mouth and whispered, "Enough for a princess."

I turned the knob and stepped inside. I motioned for them to come in, and they twisted their heads to look around.

"Like I said," I told them, "It's not great."

"Its very…quaint." Emma looked around. "Yeah. Quaint."

"I'm thirsty," Rikki said. "Got any water in this place?"

I nodded in the direction of the sink. Twisting my hand, the water turned on, and I created a water ball. "Here," I said. "Open your mouth." She did so, and I inserted the water into her mouth. Cleo did the same with herself.

We sat on my bed, and talked for some time. After a while, Rikki asked me if I'd ever wanted to visit the island again.

"Of course," I said. "Not a moment goes by when I don't think about it. Who wouldn't?"

"Told Shane you're a mermaid yet?" asked Cleo. Emma and Rikki shared shocked expressions.

"No," I said abruptly. "Why? Think I couldn't hold it in?"

"No. I just thought maybe you'd _want_ to."

I thought about that. Truth was, I had already attempted to. "I don't know. Should I?"

"Probably. Rikki has Zane, and he knows. Cleo has Lewis, and he knows. I have Ash, and he knows, too. You have Shane, but guess what? He _doesn't_ know. I say you should," said Emma.

I shrugged. "Maybe later. Remember, this isn't some little secret. This is a really big secret."

"Ash handled it pretty well," said Emma. "Probably the most calm out of all of us."

"Zane was pretty calm," insisted Rikki.

"I don't call a mermaid hunt 'pretty calm,'" said Cleo.

"Hey, that was before he knew it was us. And I wouldn't be talking. Lewis almost fainted when he saw you in the pool with a tail."

"He did look pretty shocked when Rikki and I refused to help you out of the pool because we couldn't get wet also," Emma said, cracking a smile. Rikki already beat her to it, erupting into an enormous amount of giggles.

I rolled my eyes. They were so corny. I was so glad I had told them.

"Want to go to the JuiceNet? I bet the boys are going to be there," I said.

"Good. I'm in the mood for a mango juice," said Emma.

"Paid by your friends," insisted Cleo. "It's your birthday."

Emma argued a little longer, but we used our veto power to insist to pay for her drink (basically, Cleo and I threatened her with water balls that we would throw them at her.)

We walked out the door and down the hall. On the way, I bumped into Ms. Ramsey, where I introduced her to my friends. She greeted them with a warm smile.

As we walked on, Rikki asked what her first name was.

"Linda," I said, leading them down the hall.

Emma shuddered. "That reminds me of Dr. Linda Denman. She had blonde hair, too. But Ms. Ramsey's is a dirtier blonde, and I don't think she had kids. Or brown eyes."

"Yeah," said Cleo. "But I'm going to call her Ms. Ramsey anyway."

I shrugged. "Whatever floats your boat," I said, because honestly, I really didn't care.

Shane, who hugged me, met me at the door. In the middle of which, Rikki groaned and threatened to take off with Emma and Cleo without me. I retreated from Shane, and walked to the JuiceNet with my friends trailing behind me.

We entered and took our seats in a booth. Sure enough, Lewis, Zane and Ash came in and took a seat in the same booth as us.

We pondered the menus for a bit, but really didn't have to, considering we have most of the menu memorized because of the countless times we've been here.

Cleo and I ordered a strawberry juice, Zane ordered orange, Emma and Lewis ordered a mango, Rikki ordered kiwi, and Ash ordered a strawberry banana.

When our drinks arrived, we drank them thirstily. When the bill came, we all chipped in to buy Emma's birthday drink.

"We have to clean up the party scene at Mako," Cleo said, stirring her juice with her straw. "We were in such a rush to see Avery's place, we forgot to clean it up."

"Wait, you saw Avery _Peacock's_ place?" Zane said, faking being surprised. "Wow. That should be in a history book or something."

I playfully smacked him on the arm. He grinned.

My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I dug it out. While staring at who was calling, Zane said, "That's the crappiest brand of phone. You know that, right?"

I rolled my eyes, and Cleo asked who was calling. I held up the screen so the girls could see the name: _FEGLIO_.

I opened the phone. "Hello?" I said in an overly cheered voice. I guess I was just so happy that I told my friends my secret that I could worry about my attitude.

"Don't freak out," were the first words out of his mouth. I immediately stopped my ecstatic mood and asked what was wrong. I realized that this couldn't be good.

Emma POV

"Hello?" asked Avery (or should I said Aysel) into the receiver. There were a few muted words on the other end, then Avery's face dropped. "What's wrong?"

The girls and I shared a quick worried look. I could tell Avery was troubled.

"What?" she said. It wasn't a mad outburst, but instead a soft and heart broken whisper. Again, we shared a look.

"Do you want me to—" she was cut off by Feglio on the phone. She glanced up at us and gave us a weary smile, as if to reassure nothing was going on, when in fact, it was.

"Are you saying she might?" asked Avery, cradling the phone. After a short pause, she said, "Okay. But if she does, I'm coming _straight_ back home."

Those words sent a chill up my spine, and I glanced at Cleo and Rikki's worried expressions.

"Bye." It was a muted, sulked goodbye.

Avery hung up in silence. "What's wrong?" I asked, now completely freaking out and worried.

"My mother," she said faintly, not looking up from the table. "She…" Now Avery looked up. "She was shot in the leg."

I gasped, and so did everyone else at the table, even though I don't think the boys fully understood the situation. Tears fell from Avery's eyes as she put her head in her hands, and sobbed.

A/N: Oh, noes! :'( Avery's mother was shot, and now what? Is Avery going home for good? Will her mother get well? Please review and all will be revealed. 


	14. What Else Could Go Wrong?

A/N: Thanks to Marril96 for reviewing! Sorry for late update, but I had school and my YouTube videos (please watch and comment, I barely get any! The link to my trailer on the chapter after the intro will take you to my page.) Happy Thanksgiving to you all! :== (My awesome turkey smiley.)

**What Else Could Go Wrong?**

Saturday

"What?" I whispered into the phone. I had just got the most shocking news in my lifetime: my mother was shot.

"I'm so sorry. I guess someone didn't like the way she ruled," he whispered.

"Do you want me to—" I started, but was interrupted by Feglio. "No, don't come here, or fly here, or I guess swim here. I would only want you to do that if she worsens."

"Are you saying she might?" Those words came flying out of my mouth before I could stop them. Truth was, I really didn't want to know.

"There's no telling. Maybe. Maybe not. Who knows what will come." I felt sick to my stomach.

"Okay," I said as calm as I could muster, but that wasn't that much. But if she does, I'm coming _straight_ back home." It was a promise I intended to keep. Maybe a little stretched, considering I might just come storming over there this second.

He told me goodbye, which probably meant that he didn't want to upset me any further. I returned the bye, and hung up.

I explained what had happened to the guys, at which the tears that were held back before came tumbling down. Cleo comforted me, and I watched as my nails went from yellow to dark blue, which meant sad. But I knew it was much more than that.

"I wonder how Dafina's taking it," I said, my voice wavering and my chin quivering.

"Probably pretty bad," Emma said, as if she could read Dafina's mind now.

I sat for a while, crying and wiping them away. After a while, I got up. "Excuse me," I said, and hurriedly exited.

I ran out the door. Tears rolled down my eyes as I felt the cool air. I quickly wiped them away, and didn't spend any time running off the dock and diving in. I kept my mouth in a hard line as I swam past the corals and rocks that decorated the ocean floor. But I had no time to delay, for I had to find something.

I went into the moon pool, but didn't surface. Instead, I shuffled the sand at the bottom in search of the necklace. I pushed aside a big lump of sand, hoping, praying it was in there. It wasn't.

I shifted through a bunch of sand and shells, and by the time I had to go up for air, I was pretty tuckered out. I sucked in a deep breath, and ducked under.

After a few more minutes, all I wanted to do was lie on the sand and sleep. After one more effortless push of the sand, I at last found it. It was in a pretty deserted spot and camouflaged easily with the sand it was sitting on, so I wasn't surprised it had taken all this time to find. My necklace. At last, I had found it. I put it on, touched it, and smiled in relief. The only damage was a slight peeling in the gold from when I threw it, but other than that, it was fine.

I really didn't want to face the others. I was embarrassed and ashamed at how I stormed off like that. I was also very upset at what had happened. Instead, I swam out the entrance and went to my favorite spot in the sea.

Not far off the shore of Mako island, I had found a sea cave. It was completely underwater, so it was all filled with water. It stretched about ten yards back, so I had plenty of room. It was all black and made of rock. A slight crystal bloomed off one side. When I had found it, I didn't even tell the girls. I felt like this was _my_ place, and my responsibility for my place was to keep it a secret (and I was pretty good with secrets.)

I entered the cave, and settled near the floor. Since I was underwater, sitting was impossible and not an option. But I could kind of float near the ground on my stomach, which was as relaxing as it was going to get.

I had once told Shane about this place. But since he didn't have a tail like me, he couldn't reach it, so I knew this place was all mine.

I sighed, which only came out in a flurry of bubbles. I realized I could stay down here forever. I _then_ realized I would soon have to come up for air, even if I was a mermaid. I pushed that thought aside and played with the sand on the bottom.

Cleo POV

"Avery's not at her apartment," Rikki said, running up to me, breathless. I could tell by the way she put a hand on my shoulder to catch her breath that she'd been in a hurry. "I asked Spencer."

"You mean Shane," I said, stopping to let her catch her breath.

"Whatever," she said.

"I checked the JuiceNet, the docks, asked Lewis if he'd seen her, and around her neighborhood. Not a trace." I shook my head. Where could one girl hide?

"Once Emma gets here, we can all search the ocean." She grimaced, as if remembering how well _that_ went when Emma and her were checking to find me after the whole battle with Charlotte.

Like on cue, Emma ran to us. "Guys, I checked literally _everywhere_. She wasn't anywhere!"

"We're going to check Mako and around there," I said. We walked onto the beach, and I signaled for them to come follow me. I ran quickly into the ocean and dived in, not wasting any time at all, and feeling my legs morph into a tail. I quickly swam to Mako, where we all surfaced, and, seeing that it was empty, shrugged our shoulders.

"Okay, I suggest we all split up," advised Emma. We all agreed to go our separate ways, and left.

I took a sharp turn to the left, avoiding a reef, and swam along. I was pretty far from Mako. I sensed it. But all the same, I decided I wouldn't give up until I was dead. Emma and Rikki did the same for me.

My eyelids drooped a little. Even though it wasn't late at all—about five thirty, actually—I still kept going. I silently played loud music in my head to stop myself from zoning out and pretty much falling asleep and drowning (I found it funny that I could have such a thought—a mermaid drowning.)

When I was just about to give up, I saw a flash of orange in front of me, turning around a corner that was made up of a bunch of plants.

My head snapped up. I saw it again—scales. Yes, definitely scale. It was a tail, no doubt.

Once I caught up to it, I grabbed the tail. I dug my fingernails in the fin, not caring at anything but how much work I did. The tail squirmed in my grasp, and stopped. The body that was attached turned around to face my square in the eye—and gave me a death glare.

Rikki! I immediately let go of the tail, and mouthed, "Sorry," to Rikki. She rubbed her tail and mouthed something back, but it was too confusing. I think it had the words, "Sorry…to…tail."

"What?" I mouthed. She pointed at the surface impatiently. I nodded and surfaced.

"Say your sorry to my tail," she repeated to me again once we'd surfaced.

"Oh. Well, you have to get better at mouthing things. You're pretty bad at that. No offense," I said.

"Are you guys really having this discussion?" a voice said behind us. At first, I thought it was Avery, and I spun around excitedly. But when I saw it was Emma, my face obviously showed my sorrow.

"No sign of Avery," said Emma. I sighed. What was going to happen now?

"What if she's in trouble?" Rikki asked.

"I know who we can ask," Emma said quietly.

"Who?" I asked curiously.

"Who stayed with Avery when we were fighting?" asked Emma. "Who stuck with her? Who had been spending a lot of time with her lately?"

I cast a glance at Rikki. I could tell she didn't like the answer more than I did.

Rikki POV

"What?" Shane said.

"Did Avery ever tell you of a place she might like a lot?" I asked for about the fifth time. The words tasted familiar on my tongue.

"A place to hang out? A place to hide?" he asked, confused.

"Second one," I said.

"Well," he said after a pause. "She did say how she liked her apartment building. Said it was comforting with me around." He grinned like a love struck idiot. "She also said she always liked where she had last lived."

I tapped my foot impatiently on the ground. This was getting us nowhere.

"And," he said, as if giving out a big secret, "There is also an underwater cave she said she liked, even though she couldn't get to it because humans couldn't dive that far down without professional equipment. But she still she liked it, even though she couldn't reach it, which is a little fishy to me."

I shot a wild look at Emma and Cleo. They gave me the same look. He didn't know how fishy this was about to become.

"Wait, so where exactly is this cave?" asked Cleo, rushing to the point.

"I checked it out. I mean, got to the place, but didn't dive that deep. I don't have the equipment."

Cleo pestered him even more with questions. He answered them as best he could, and tried to give us directions, even though he had no idea why we'd need them. I knew that this news had gotten Aysel pretty upset, and that she could stay down there a long time. Down there…all alone. Who knew how long she could keep it up?

"She won't come up to us," I whispered to Cleo. "But maybe to Shane. She'll run away when she sees us."

"We can't let that happen," Cleo argued. "We won't _let_ that happen."

"Would you rather have our secret revealed or Avery in jeopardy?" I asked. She heaved a sigh.

"Huh," said Shane, looking at one of his atlases he'd found inside. "Avery's spot is in a sharks' breeding ground."

"WHAT?" bellowed Emma, snatching the atlas from Shane. She gasped and realized it was true.

"We need to find her," agreed Cleo. I could tell she knew the fear that came with being in the middle of a shark's habitat.

"We need Shane," I said, and Cleo actually nodded yes. She knew that Shane was the only one who could handle sharks besides Lewis, but he was all the way at his house, and we didn't have time for getting him.

"For what?" Shane said suspiciously.

"Your girlfriends in trouble, dude," I abruptly said.

"What? Wait, why?" he asked.

I took a small step up to him. "Shane," I said coolly, "Do you believe in mermaids?"

A/N: Will telling Shane to secret to save Avery be worth it? Can Shane get Avery? Review! Oh, and I have so many random questions, and I am curious to hear the answers from you. I'll call them "Rikki's Random Question of the Day." Please answer the questions, as I want to hear the answers XD.

CAUTION: Very random questions. My not be suitable for people who cannot handle randomness.

Rikki's Random Question of the Day: Does it bother you that in a restaurant, someone else before you used the silverware you use? Even just a little bit? Even if it has been washed?


	15. Revealed?

**A/N: So where did we leave off…Clark was about to propose to Brittany, right? Wait…scratch that. Never mind. On to the **_**real**_** story.**

**Disclaimer: Does it ever change? I do not own H2O.**

**Revealed?**

SaturdayAysel/Avery POV

I doodled in the sand, drawing triangles and random lines. I eventually ended up drawing people.

I drew Cleo. Then I drew Rikki. Then Emma. Soon I had done Cleo, Rikki, Emma, Shane, Dafina, Feglio, and my mom. I circled them all and sighed. I wondered what they were doing right now.

I heard a noise, kind of like something rubbing against rock, and my head snapped up. I uncertainly swam to the cave entrance, when I heard it again. It was pretty soft since I was underwater.

I held onto the edge of the cave and looked out. I didn't see pretty much anything, so I just pulled it back in again.

Then I saw it. A long, gray body was wiggling about and around the cave. Not one, but a couple of them. A couple of sharks.

I gasped, which came out in a flurry of bubbles. I hid behind one wall and tried to plan an escape route.

How could I have been so stupid? I hadn't scoped out the place before hiding away here. Now there was a possibility that the cave would be my underwater coffin.

_Calm down,_ I thought earnestly. _Sharks can sense my fear._

But yet, my fear did not cease. Instead, it increased.

I closed my eyes, and mentally said goodbye to everyone.

Cleo POV

"Shane, do you believe in mermaids?" Oh, I wish I could have been as nonchalant as that! But instead, I was mentally hyperventilating at the mere thought of Aysel getting ripped to shreds by a shark.

"Mermaids?" Oh, how he laughed! I almost laughed myself at the thought of finding out something that you thought was nonexistent existed. Like me finding out about fairies. But if there were mermaids, why not, say, pixies?

Rikki shot him a death glare. "It's a yes or no question, Spencer," Rikki said grimly.

"It's Shane," he corrected. "And no, I do not."

Now it was Rikki's turn to laugh. "Then you're about to get the shock of your life."

"What she's trying to say," I said, "Is that we need your help on something, but we don't know how you'll take it."

"Please, I'll take it fine," he said.

And with that, we were on Zane's zodiac in no time.

"Rikki, are you sure Zane let you borrow this?" Emma asked, concerned.

Rikki snorted. "'Course not. I stole his keys."

"So, why do you need me?" asked Shane, driving through the waves.

"You're the only one who knows how to deal with sharks," replied Rikki.

"Okay, why do I need to deal with sharks? Where's Avery? Why are we going to her cave? We can't even reach it!"

I rolled my eyes. "No questions."

"You'd be able to get along with these kinds of sharks if you know how to treat them," said Shane.

"Spencer, sharks only get along with certain kinds of people. Or should I say, they _don't_ get along with certain kinds of people," Rikki said.

Shane pretty much ignored the Spencer remark. I think he was getting used to it. "What kinds of people?" Just then, he shut off the engine. "We're here."

"Perfect," said Rikki, rubbing her hands together. "_You_ are going to have to go deal with the sharks."

"But why?" asked Shane for about the hundredth time. "I will not if you don't tell me what's going on."

"See, Avery is kind of…" Emma glanced at us. "Stuck down there in the cave. With the sharks."

"What?" exclaimed Shane. "But she doesn't have the necessary gear to dive to those depths."

"She doesn't need them," Rikki said. "And we don't either."

"Yes, you do," insisted Shane. "It's _way down_ there!"

Emma sighed. "Enough of this. Avery's in trouble. And we need your help to ward off the sharks and get down there. We can swim you down there once the sharks are gone."

"How can you swim me down?" asked Shane.

"He's hopeless," I said. "Let's just show him and get it over with." I stood up, shaking.

The girls stood up too. We all held hands, and together, jumped in.

We were still holding hands in the water. We immediately broke free, and counted down.

At one, our legs disappeared and our tails appeared. We looked at each other with worried expressions that could not be duplicated, and swam to the surface.

We hit the top, and stared at Shane. He looked so shocked that I could have laughed if this wasn't that serious. I sighed and realized that if we didn't haul ourselves out of the ocean, we'd all soon be mermaid sushi, courtesy of the sharks. I waved to the other girls to start swimming to the boat.

We got up and rolled into the boat. It was a tight fit with three mermaids and a person, but we managed.

"Let me get this straight," said Shane, finally getting his voice back. 'He speaks!' Rikki mouthed to me, and I shot her a look to be quiet. "Sharks don't get along well with…" Oops. There went his voice.

"Mermaids," Rikki said. The word had gotten so familiar on her tongue. "Mermaids. You heard us right, Spencer. Mermaids."

I didn't even bother to correct Rikki as I studied his reaction.

"Wait," said Shane. "That means that Avery is…one, too, right?"

"That was kind of the point we were getting to," said Rikki. "Okay, so here's the plan. You go get rid of the sharks, and then we will swim you down to get Avery. Or do you want us to do it so you don't run out of air?"

"I can do it. I can hold my breath for long," said Shane.

"Okay. So first step, get rid of the sharks."

"And if they kill me…" said Shane slowly.

Rikki looked around at us. "Uh…we all chip in for your funeral? Seems fair, right guys?"

"Rikki!" Emma hissed, her voice dripping with venom.

I rolled my eyes. "More important things to worry about. Shane, you need to go down and get Avery."

Without wasting another second, he dived into the water like we would do. He stayed down there for a few seconds, and then surfaced for some air. Then he duck back under.

When he surfaced _again_, it wasn't to get more air. It was to tell us that the mission was complete.

"What exactly did you do?" asked Rikki suspiciously as she swung her long tail over the edge and fell into the water.

"Fed them some fish is all," Shane said with a mischievous smile.

We didn't have time to question. Emma and I jumped into the water. I grabbed Shane's hand without hesitating, and Emma grabbed the other. Together, with Rikki trailing by, we speed swam a surprised Shane down to the cave.

Avery POV

I swallowed hard as I watched the sharks circle the cave once, twice—I just watched it around and around.

They got closer and closer to me until they just…left. Just like that. Actually, their heads snapped up at something and they swam more towards the surface and away from me.

I backed up more into the cave. By now, my lungs were pleading with me for air. I ignored the burning sensation and just stayed put.

Then I saw something—or some_one _enter the cave. I looked to see a head, and smiled. It was probably Cleo, Rikki or Emma.

But as I squinted—stupid eyesight! —I saw that it wasn't a girl, but a boy. He looked familiar…almost too familiar.

I then realized it was Shane! My hand flew to my mouth as I watched him kick his legs, entering the cave. How in the world did he swim this far down?

Then I saw Emma, Cleo and Rikki. They were helping Shane down. Wait, why had they shown him their tails? Did he know _I_ had a tail, too? Even if he didn't, he was about to find out.

He looked up and caught my eye—I smiled. But it was a weary, tired smile. I covered my tail with my hands, as if it could protect it from those curious eyes. I carefully removed my hands, realizing it was no use.

I swam to him, and gave him a questioning, hurtful (I didn't even know why) look. His mouth was set in a hard line as he took my hand in his.

I smiled again, and this time, he returned it. I was actually glad he was here now, watching me—it was a great feeling.

I realized he must have been running out of air, so I hurriedly swam out of the cave, holding his hand. I pointed to the surface to the three girls, and they obeyed. I quickly swam to the surface, where both Shane and I took deep breaths.

"So," said Shane, smiling. "You never told me this was why you wouldn't go swimming. I have to admit, it's pretty amazing."

"Oh, you haven't seen anything yet. We have powers," I said. "But before we show you them, we have to dry off." I looked at the girls, who had just surfaced behind us. "_And_, you guys have to tell me why you showed him our secret."

So they explained while Rikki dried us off. Shane drove us back to shore, and we decided to show him our powers.

A/N: Rikki's Random Question of the Day: If you could design any pair of sneakers, what color would they be? What could they do? Be as creative as you want! You can make them fly, or talk! Answer in reviews (I'm really interested in what people will respond to this question.)


	16. Explaining and Planning

A/N: Okay, I really wanted to answer my own question, so I will. My shoes would be lime green sneakers that could fly me around anywhere and run errands for me XD. I really like Marril96's idea for them to different types of shoes according to the weather (extremely helpful.) I also like rikki4ever's idea that they could turn you into a mermaid (that would be fun!) Okay, on to the next chapter.

Explaining and Planning

_Saturday/Sunday_

"Prepare to be astounded," Rikki said in a deep, speaker voice. She cracked her knuckles and rotated her head from one side to the other.

We were all in my cramped apartment, and I have to tell you, it wasn't built for five people.

"Wait, wait," interrupted Emma. "Why do you get to go first?"

"Because I'm awesome," Rikki said, as if it was the most obvious answer in the world.

I sighed, and advanced towards the sink. I took out a plastic cup and—making sure none got on me—filled the cup. I set it on my bedside table, and nodded to Rikki.

"Alright, ladies and…" she looked at Shane. "Ladies and whatever he is, prepare to have your socks blown off." She took a step towards the glass, and balled her fist. The water then began to bubble and churn. Shane touched the plastic, but his hand instantly jerked back at the sudden touch of it. "It's burning hot!" he said dumbly.

"That's kind of the point," said Rikki. "I can also create fire and lightning."

"How about we cool it down a little?" asked Emma. She nodded to Cleo, who twisted her hand, and a stream of water came out of the cup. Emma froze the stream. Both of their hands dropped to their sides.

"I can also manipulate clouds," said Emma. Cleo followed, "I can control wind."

Shane turned to me. "How 'bout you, Avery? What's your power? Or are you powerless?" he joked with a smile.

I pointed at him. "Hey, I wouldn't be talking. You have no tail or powers."

He smiled. "Thank God. I guess being a mermaid makes you crazy," he grinned at me.

I attacked him, laughing and pelting him with kisses. When Rikki finally broke us up, I showed him my power. I picked up the cup, water and all. "Telekinesis!" I cried. "My fingernail polish also changes color according to my mood."

"So that's why I always see you with funky nail polish colors," said Shane with a smile.

"Yeah," I said. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to go get something to eat, then go to bed," I said. I faced the guys. "Tomorrow we can clean up Mako, okay?"

"Sure," said Cleo. She smiled, and before they left, said, "Oh, and Avery? Thank you."

I smiled and nodded, knowing exactly what she meant. When they left, all I ate for dinner was a bag of chips. After that, I crashed out on my bed, feeling so tired from the exhausting day.

OoOoO

"Avery," a whispered voice said quietly. I stirred a little, annoyed at the tiny voice. I was so tired that I could stay here forever.

"Avery," the voice said, more urgently. I continued to ignore the annoying voice.

"Oh, for Pete's Sake, Emma!" cried another voice. Then a _very_ loud, "AVERY!" awoke me.

"What the…" I said. I looked around, making out my blurry surroundings of my room. I realized that Emma, Cleo and Rikki were looking down at me.

I almost screamed. "What the heck are you guys doing in my room?" I yelled.

"We wanted to tell you that we already cleaned up the scene at Mako," Cleo said.

"Thanks," I said sarcastically. "What time is it?"

"One," said Emma.

"One?" I cried. I got up. "Why didn't you guys wake me before?"

I pulled on a T-shirt and jeans in no time flat. After pulling on some sneakers, I smiled at my friends. "Where is our destination today?"

"Sleep," Rikki moaned, stretching her arms above her head. She dramatically fell onto the bed. She pointed an accusing finger at Cleo and Emma. "_They_ got me up too early."

I pulled Rikki of my bed, and we went out the door. We went into the JuiceNet and settled ourselves down in a booth.

"Please explain to me _why_ we go here everyday?" I asked, looking down at my menu.

"Well, you work here," Rikki reminded me.

"And it's a great place to hang out," added Emma.

Soon the waitress came around, and we placed our orders. I had just enough money to buy a juice, and I was tempted to buy two when my stomach had growled, reminding me of my unhealthy dinner and no breakfast.

I slurped my juice down faster than any of the girls. Sitting back, satisfied, I watched the rest of the girls finish theirs. Cleo was the last one, and we all waited for her to finish her strawberry kiwi. Once she was done, my phone vibrated. I picked it up and looked at the caller ID.

"Feglio alert," I warned the girls.

"Let's hope its good news," said Emma.

"It probably is," said Cleo reassuringly. Even so, they looked at each other nervously as I flipped open my cell phone. "Hello?"

"She got worse," he admitted right on the spot. My heart sank.

"D-do…y-yo-you want me to…c-come?" I asked, my voice quivering. I was trying not to cry.

"Please," he said pleadingly. But I would have already come without him pleading me.

"I will," I whispered. I hung up, and shut my eyes. After a long time, I reopened them. "How would you guys like to go to Moonlight Island with me?"

"Seriously?" asked a shocked Rikki. "You'd let us come?"

"Sure," I said with a shaky smile. "I need all the help I can get. It'll just be a kind of long swim. But we can make it."

"You mean we can finally see the island and its moon pool?" asked Cleo excitedly.

"And we can meet your mom? And Dafina and Feglio?" put in Emma.

"And we can swim around the island without worrying about anyone seeing, because they all know anyway?" asked Rikki.

I slowly nodded to each of the questions. "Yes. If you tell your parents that you guys are going on vacation with me, then they'd probably want to meet my parents, which can't happen. So here's the plan." I bent over the table to the girls like it was a big secret (which, of course, it kind of was.) "Emma tells her parents that she is going on vacation with Cleo. Cleo tells her dad that she is going on vacation with Emma. Rikki tells her dad she is going with Cleo. Since we are swimming, pack everything you need in your pockets so they will be on you when you swim. Make sure to include your cell phone, so your parents can call you and not each other's parents. Include whatever else you can. If you want you can pack clothes, but I have some you guys can borrow if you want. Got it?" I asked to the girls. They nodded.

I leaned back against the booth and sighed. I wondered how this would turn out, and how I was going to tell Shane I was leaving.

A/N: Excited to see the island? I'm excited to write about it!

Rikki's Random Question of the Day: What would be your dream party? Would a celebrity perform there? Who would come? Would your parents be invited or shoved upstairs (assuming it is at your house, but it doesn't have to be.)


	17. Leaving

**A/N: Nothing much to say, except to thank my reviewers. Oh, yes, and sorry for the late update. But hey, its here!**

Leaving Sunday

"What?" asked Shane, asking me to repeat what I had said.

"I have to leave," I repeated. "Not for a while, but…for some time."

"Why?" he asked.

"I can't tell you," I confessed. "But all I know is that I am leaving."

Shane didn't dawdle on the subject and question me. "Well, I'll really miss you."

"Me too," I said awkwardly. I gave him a hug, in which he held on to me long, as if that would keep me here. I then went to go pack.

I went into my apartment and threw on my itchy sweatshirt that had ugly and huge pockets. I had always hated it, but it came in handy once in a while.

I shoved in my cell phone, my only money in which I was saving and earned from the JuiceNet, and some other things I needed. Once I was done, I admit that I looked pretty ridiculous.

I went outside and past Shane. He questioned me about my sweatshirt, but I just said it was a new fashion statement that my friends and I were trying.

I managed to get to the beach without many people staring. Once I did, Cleo, Emma and Rikki were there, looking about as weird as me with their overstuffed pockets.

"My mom asked me about school," said Emma. "Like, 'What about school? You can't go on vacation during school!'"

"My dad did, too," said Cleo. "What are we going to do about that?"

"Don't worry ladies," said Rikki. "I thought about that problem on the way back home. I took care of it."

"How?" asked a suspicious Emma. I didn't blame her. Rikki did some pretty wild things.

Just then we heard a, "FIRE!" yell, and sirens. We all watched as smoke curled in the air. We all turned to triumphant and mischievous Rikki. She grinned while watching the smoke.

"You set the school _on_ _fire_?" cried Cleo.

Rikki waggled a finger at her. "Don't say I didn't help you guys. The rebuilding of the school will take a while."

"Great!" Emma cried, even though I'll bet she was pretty nervous about the whole school on fire thing. "I'll call my parents." Cleo did the same.

While Cleo and Emma were a few yards away from me and Rikki, gabbing on their cell phones, Rikki asked me, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

I looked out into the ocean, then at my overstuffed pockets. Did I really want to do this? Truth? I really didn't know. Did I want to see my mother? Yes, of course. Did I want to see my mother in pain? No. Did I want to see Dafina and Feglio? Yes.

I looked straight out into the ocean, then back at Rikki. "Yes," I whispered so softly that Rikki had to crane her neck to hear.

Emma and Cleo came over then, their shut phones in their hands. "All set?" asked Rikki.

"Yep," said Cleo. "We're ready. Ready to go, Avery?"

I didn't realize I was still looking out into the ocean. When I returned their gaze, I actually said _yes_.

OoOoO

"This is hard!" complained Rikki. She stretched her arms above her head, and rolled her head back and forth, and left and right.

"We're almost there," I said, taking a gulp of fresh air. I could tell we all were a bit tired. Cleo looked as if she wanted to fall asleep, Emma's cheeks were red from swimming so much (even though the water was cool and refreshing), and Rikki complained of how "hard" it was to swim, even though her tail was built for swimming.

I gazed up into the sky, and observed the twilight that had now fallen down upon us. It wasn't quite pitch black out, but it wasn't bright and sunny. It was like a room that's lights were dimly lit because of a burnt out light bulb. The last of the purple of the sunset was out in the horizon.

"How long?" asked Cleo. Her eyelids drooped, showing that she was as tired as the rest of us.

"One mile," I informed her.

"Maybe we should just sleep at the bottom of the ocean," said Rikki. Emma's hand shot up. "I agree with Rikki!"

"Guys," I said. "You want to give up? You want to stop swimming and never meet Feglio, Dafina, and my mother? You want to just fall asleep at the bottom of the ocean and drown? Oh, I know! We can just sit here until the sharks eat us in the morning!" I screamed.

Okay, so it seemed that the others weren't the only ones affected by the tiredness. I was becoming incredibly grumpy and irritable.

"Fine," huffed Rikki, seemingly catching onto my grumpiness. She shot us all a dirty look and sunk under the freezing water. Maybe it was the incredibly cold water that had made us all ill tempered. Maybe it was the lack of sleep. Or maybe (for me) it was the anxiety of seeing my family once more.

The others slipped down in the murky waters. I sighed and followed them.

After what seemed a while, I saw something. I came up to the surface and saw it. The island! My home. My place that I could call my own, not, "The apartment," or, "The place that is my temporary home." I didn't believe I would lay eyes on it again, but here I was, a year later.

"Land ho!" I cried, sighting the island.

"Did you say something?" asked a cracked voice. I realized the voice came from one of three heads that had popped out of the ocean. It was Emma.

They all turned to where I pointed. Cleo cried, "Oh my God! An island! Oh my God! It's a _beautiful_ island! Oh my God! There's a volcano like at Mako! Oh my God! It's your island, Avery!"

"Oh my God, I know," I said sarcastically. "Why don't we go towards it?"

"Oh my God, yes," imitated Rikki. Even through our drowsiness, we all stifled a laugh. Even Cleo.

Once we got to the island, we got on the sand and Rikki dried us off. A chill ran up my spine as I sat on the sand. Did I recognize that rock? And that patch of sand? How about that area of greenery? Some things I recognized. As a kid, I'd climb on some of these rocks, thinking they were gigantic. Now, they seemed pretty small.

"I want to go to bed," murmured Rikki. I bet she didn't even notice we had arrived. I figured she could marvel at it all in the morning. She observed the dark and held her hand out, palm up. A little fire appeared on her palm, giving us some light.

"Quit complaining," grouched Emma. "We'll go to bed soon enough." She looked at me. "Avery?"

"Follow me." I led them to my old house, and into my old room. I used Rikki's hand as my flashlight. The island was just like a regular place. Just imagine where you live. Cut that into a smaller piece, and add water around it. What did you get? Moonlight Island.

I tiptoed past my sister's room. I didn't want to awake her until dawn. That was when the big reunion would come.

I pawed through the selection of extra blankets and pillows. I threw them each one of each, and selected a pillow and blanket for me. I jumped onto my bedroom floor. Rikki blew out the fire on her palm.

"What are you doing?" whispered Emma. "You have your bed to sleep in."

"I'm not letting you guys sleep on the floor without me," I said, rolling my eyes, as if the answer was so obvious.

When we were all settled, I actually couldn't sleep. I observed my surroundings. Yep, nothing had really changed. Still the same lime green paint splashed on the walls. Still the same bulletin board where I kept multiple pictures of me, my mom, my sister, and my friends around the island. I still had the same white wooden desk, with the paint kind of peeling off. The same lamp sat upon it. My queen sized bed still sat by the wall, with its a purple bedspread. My curtains, which were decorated in dolphins, hung on my windows. Nothing in my room matched, but that was only because I had numerous personalities. The only thing that had changed was the feeling of emptiness. There was a feeling that no one had ventured in here for a while. I was disappointed at that fact.

After about an hour, I got up. I tiptoed out my door and out the house door. I decided to take a little field trip.

I passed the familiar artifacts that made my heart happy I saw again. I really, _truly_ thought that these were long gone, that I would never see them again. But here I was.

Suddenly I realized all along why I was so sad. Why it all didn't make sense, and I was just plain unhappy. Homesickness.

I felt a pang of homesickness go right through me. I had missed the island so much. The Gold Coast was never really my home. It was never meant to be. I was fooling myself all along. I realized that now.

I walked right up to the entrance to the moon pool (well, Moonlight Island's moon pool.) I observed the hole in the big rock with distaste. Multiple boards and nails covered the opening, but it was so worn out with weather and rain that one could simply peel it away. That's what I had intended to do.

I stuck my hands under the boards and pulled. The boards instantly gave way and opened. I silently slid down the hole.

I tumbled a little along the way. But I finally managed to end up on my butt in the sand at the bottom. I got up and brushed off the excess sand that was clinging to the bottom of my sweats. I made my way to the moon pool.

Moonlight Island's moon pool was different from Mako's. First of all, Moonlight's was bigger. Just a tad, but it was bigger. Also, the volcano opening was a different shape. But besides that, everything was pretty much the same.

I dived in without hesitation, and swam to the entrance. I got there before my tail had even formed. I saw the wood that was blocking _that_ entrance was a little stronger. Once my legs disappeared, I hit my tail a couple of times on the wood. After a while, it began to crack. I worked on the rest with my hands, tearing to away without taking any breaks to rest. I pretended I was moonstruck, and so powerful that nothing stood in my way, no matter how many splinters I got or how much it hurt.

After it all got worked away, I swam out and admired my work. I swam to the shore and dried my tail. After that, I was pretty tired and my hands were throbbing. I went back into my house, and into my bathroom. I washed out the cuts and put Band-Aids on them. The end results were some pretty messed up hands, but I decided to bear with it. I quietly went back into my room and dived under the warm blanket.

"Avery?" I heard Cleo say, mostly asleep. "What were you doing?"

"Just something I've been planning to do for a while," I said just as we both slipped into a nice, dreamy sleep.

**A/N: Please review, and you get a virtual bag of marshmallows :).**

**Rikki's Random Question of the Day: If you could fill a swimming pool with anything and swim in it, what would it be? (I chose Jell-O XD. Wouldn't that be fun, though? You can say Jell-O if that was what you were originally planning and I stole it :))**


	18. The Island

A/N: Thanks for the reviews! Yesterday was a snow day, so I got an extra day to catch up on my writing XD. I don't really know why it was a snow day, since there wasn't much snow and my dad still went to work, so the roads couldn't have been too bad…. Off topic! Onto the story! Oh, and it mentions in here that the time is different by a few days from Australia. I don't think there is somewhere where two places are a few days apart in time, but I'm just pretending it is.

**Disclaimer: I do not own H2O. I only own the characters I create.**

The Island Monday

"Asyel," I heard. I kept my eyes shut tight. It was morning, and I really didn't like to get up in the morning.

"Asyel," I heard again. Believing it to be Emma, I said, "Emma, you _know_ I'm not a morning person."

I then heard a choked whisper, "Oh, A!" Then I felt arms wrap around me in a hug.

Wait…A? No one called me A besides…

My eyes flew open and I saw a girl hugging me. When she pulled back, I got a good look at her. She had red hair identical to mine, only curlier (curlier than I had remembered it.) Her brown eyes sparkled with delight. Her lips were full and smiling.

"Dafina!" I cried in joy. I hugged her back, this time tighter.

"A, what are you doing here?" she asked in surprise, using her nickname for me. "And who are they?" she whispered, motioning to Emma, Cleo and Rikki, now all peacefully asleep.

I remembered Dafina's personality well. It was more of a Rikki personality. Her fiery attitude and adventurous side showed it. But she also had a soft side, sort of a Cleo side. But all together, she was one hell of a girl.

"My friends," I answered. "Try not to wake them up. They had a huge journey yesterday." I stood, and Dafina mimicked me.

She was taller and slimmer than I had remembered. Prettier, too. I guess she had changed.

"You have a lot of explaining to do," she said seriously, but hugged me anyway.

"I have just the place," I said in excitement. "Let's go!"

I took her hand, and led her out the door and outside. I let go once we reached a peak of rocks.

I put my hands on a smaller one and hoisted myself up. I turned to Dafina, who was standing there uncertainly.

"Come on. We're going rock climbing," I said, and grabbed her hand. With a slight pull, she was able to climb up.

"Cool," she said, her attention fixed on a bigger one. I was about to warn her that it was too big, but she jumped perfectly on it. I was pretty impressed.

After a while, we finally got to the hole. I pointed to the hole, and said, "In."

"Really?" she said with her eyebrows raised. She inspected the hole.

"Do I look like I'm kidding?" I asked with a laugh. I sat down in front of the hole, and got ready to slide down. It was really slippery, so I slid in without pushing. It caught me by surprise, and I screamed, but a laugh was mixed in it.

When I was at the bottom, I called up, "Okay! Now it's your turn!"

I didn't hear anything for a few seconds, so I said, "Are you coming?"

At that moment, Dafina made it to the bottom. She was smiling. "That…was…_awesome_!"

I laughed. "You liked it? Then you'll absolutely love this!" I led her down to the moon pool, and watched as she looked around in awe.

"You want go in?" I asked, and she nodded. Dafina discarded her shoes.

"Wait," she said. "If I go in, I won't become a…you know?"

"No," I replied instantly. "Not until a full moon goes over the top of the volcano."

"Well, in that case…" she said, trailing off. Dafina dived in and surfaced, a big smile on her face.

"You know being a…you know, has its perks," I said, squatting by the moon pool. I dived into it, relief filling me.

Once I surfaced, she asked, "Like what?"

"You get to see all kinds of underwater life," I said. "And you get powers. But mostly what's cool is your tail." I smiled at her as the moon pool began to churn. In place of my legs was my tail.

"Hm," I said, looking at my tail. "I'm pretty sure it got longer on the swim here."

She curiously put a hand on my tail, but recoiled. "Its…weird! And slimy!"

I laughed. "Uh, I think I'll take that as a compliment."

Just then we heard a, "Rikki! Learn to slide down _feet-first_! Do you think I like it when you ram into me with your hard head!"

A reply came, "Hey! Who's idea was it to slide down the entrance instead of swimming? Oh, it was you, wasn't it, Emma!"

"I thought we wouldn't have been able to find it that way!" cried Emma.

Dafina shot me a wild look of worry, but I smiled in amusement.

"How hard is it to find a gaping hole underwater?" asked Rikki. The voices were closer now.

"Guys! Guys! Stop it!" yelled a new voice—Cleo. "Doesn't it just matter that we're here?"

Finally, three girls came into view. They observed the place around them, then their stares led to us. I gave them a little half-hearted smile.

Dafina put her hands on my tail, kind of like how I did with Shane when he first saw me. I carefully removed her hands. "It's okay, Daf. They know. In fact, they _are_."

Her wide eyes went from me to them. Cleo smiled and waved at her.

"This place is so cool! It's like the Mako moon pool!" said Rikki.

"Care to join us?" I asked, smiling.

Without a word, Rikki did a cannonball into the moon pool, splashing everyone, including Emma and Cleo, who were still standing at the entryway. "Rikki!" groaned Emma as they both dived into the moon pool.

Surprisingly, it wasn't that crowded with the five of us (even though 4/5 of us had long tails.)

"This place is awesome," murmured Cleo as she looked around the moon pool area.

"So," said Dafina, "A, how did you know that mom was…you know…shot?"

"Feglio told me," I answered obliviously.

"You had contact with him?" asked Dafina.

I smiled meekly. "Cell phones. You gotta love 'em, right?"

"Why didn't you have him talk to me, A? I really missed you!" she cried.

"It was for your safety," I said lamely, shooting glances at the girls. They shrugged. "I'm sure once I get back to Australia, we can…"

"Back?" shrieked Dafina. "You're going _back_? Aysel!"

"Sorry," I whispered, lowering my eyes to the water.

After a long pause, she said, "No, I'm sorry. I'm sorry we weren't as close as I thought."

"Dafina!" I snapped. "Stop it right now!"

"I don't want to talk anymore," she said. "You've changed, A. Or should I say, Avery?" she spat. I'm sure I looked shocked, because she said, "Yeah, Feglio told me. But that doesn't matter. The point is that you left me here, had a chance to talk to me, and now you will ditch me shortly again!"

With one last look at my tail, she took a deep breath and swam under the water.

"Oh, no," I muttered, leaning my head back on the rocky side of the moon pool. "What do I do now?"

"Talk to her," said Cleo. "But first, shouldn't we meet other people? All we've met is Dafina, and I bet she hates us now."

"She doesn't hate you," I insisted. "She hates me. But yeah, we can go meet Feglio, if you guys are up for it."

"Sure!" agreed Emma, and the rest nodded. Then we all swam out.

After drying off, I walked along the beach. Emma then surprised us all by saying, "I did a little research, and the time is different here."

"I know, Emma," I said. I slipped out of my flip-flops and began to walk across the sandy beach.

"By a few days, actually," she said. "So that means the full moon is tonight."

Rikki stopped in her tracks and groaned. "So do we have to board up your entire house?"

I sighed. "I guess so."

She groaned. "But that means _work_," she complained.

"Suck it up," I said. "Help me find Feglio."

"What does he look like?" Cleo asked.

"He—" I stopped my sentence short. I spied a man walking onto the beach just in front of us. "He looks exactly like that!" I pointed.

I ran up to the man and jumped on his back like a little kid, surprising him. Emma gasped, but I just laughed. I swung off his back and landed on my feet.

"Still so strong, huh Feglio?" I asked him.

He smiled and hugged me. "Still so stubborn, huh, Aysel?"

The man standing in front of me was a well-built man, in his early thirties. He had tanned skin and curly black hair. I really didn't know how he got to be so strong, but all I know is that he can pick me up with one hand.

He brought me into another hug, and then released me. I then introduced him to Emma, Cleo and Rikki.

Rikki stepped forward and looked him over. "Ah, well when I pictured Feglio I pictured an old man with gray hair. Oh, well. Life is full of disappointments."

Emma placed a hand over Rikki's mouth. "She's kidding. Don't believe a word that comes out of her…" Emma trailed off then got closer to Rikki's ear. "Her big fat mouth," she hissed.

"Your mother might be well enough tomorrow to see you," he said. "Would you like to?"

"Hell yeah, she would!" Rikki cried, but Emma dragged her away from us.

"Sure," I said with a weary smile. "But first, do you have any duct tape and cardboard?"

When Feglio looked at me curiously, Emma came over. "Rikki and I are going back to your house. Meet us there, 'kay?"

Cleo and I nodded. Once they were gone, I asked Feglio my question again. After he handed the supplies over, we made our way back to the house.

"Time to tape up the windows," I said with a smile and handed each of the girls a roll of duct tape and a few pieces of cardboard. "Let's get to work!"

**A/N: Next chapter will be the full moon…O.O**

**Rikki's Random Question of the Day: What's your dream job and why?**


	19. Full Moon

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews and answers to the questions! Yesterday (Monday) and today (Tuesday) were both snow days. I'm like, really? More? They're good, but annoying. Lol, anyway, no school! :) And yes, Marill96, Feglio does know that they're mermaids. He just didn't bring it up then. :)**

Full Moon Monday

"Done," said Emma with a satisfied smile, setting down her roll of duct tape. "We put up duct tape and cardboard all over the house in only…" She checked her watch. "An hour and a half."

Rikki ripped off a piece of duct tape and began to play with it. "Hey, Em? What time is it? I'm starving."

"Five," she said right when Rikki's stomach growled.

"How about we all get something to eat? There are plenty of restaurants around here," I said, motioning out my window, which was covered with a piece of cardboard.

"Please," begged Rikki, heading for the door. "Anything to shove in my mouth and swallow right now would be nice."

So we went out the door and walked around the island. Emma, Cleo and Rikki marveled at the beauty of the island; the colorful birds, the exotic plants, and the crystal clear ocean that seemed to stretch miles beyond the shore.

Once we were at a café near the middle of the island, Rikki cheered. "The most beautiful of all the scenery!"

We laughed while entering the café, entitled Moonlight Island Café. We took our seats and began scanning the menu.

"Whoa! Is that Aysel I see with my very eyes?" I looked up off the menu—I was looking at the appetizers—and saw Tia, the assistant manager to Moonlight Island Café.

"Why, yes it is!" I announced proudly to her. Tia was a great family friend of mine—she's about twenty-nine, if you were wondering. And let me tell you, I thought she was gorgeous. She had coco brown skin, beautiful hazel eyes that I was jealous of, and straight white teeth that no one else seemed to be able to perfect. Her dark brown hair was about shoulder length, and had straight bangs right across her forehead.

"I almost didn't recognize that pretty face of yours! You look different!" Tia had one of those loud, booming voices that would usually annoy you, but coming from her, it was great.

"Thanks," I said, blushing. But I knew I wasn't half as pretty as Tia.

"What would you guys like? It's on the house!" said Tia, smiling ear to ear with that stunning white smile of hers.

"Thanks," I said, and we ordered. I introduced Emma, Cleo and Rikki to Tia as we did (I got a steak and baked potato.) Once Tia was gone, Cleo asked what her name was.

"Oh," I said, embarrassed. I had told her their names, but not vice versa. "Her name is Tia."

"Finally!" Rikki said, throwing her hands up in the air in a victory V. "A normal name!"

I gave her a glare and she said, "Seriously. Why can't there be more normal names, like…Zane?"

"Or Lewis?" asked Cleo.

"Or Ash?" Emma said, sadly looking down at the table.

I watched all of them look sadly down at their napkins. We had been here, what, less than twenty-four hours, and they already missed their boyfriends? I guess I missed Shane, but I didn't feel the familiar longing to return to the Gold Coast as I did with Moonlight Island. Maybe Dafina was right. Maybe I should stay here.

Snapping out of it, I asked them, "Do you guys want to call them?"

In an instant, they whipped out their cells and dialed their numbers. Just for the heck of it, I called Shane too. We had a regular chat, and I told him how much I missed him. We both hung up when our food arrived.

I ate hungrily for a while. You know the feeling how you don't think you're hungry, but right when you start eating, you realize how incredibly starving you really are? That was how I felt. Near the end of my meal, though, I ate slowly, trying to savor the taste. It was really good.

I happened to glance at my purple watch, and nearly choked when I read it. My head snapped up and I said, "Guys, the moon is up in like, five minutes!"

That caught their attention. We hastily choked down the rest of our meals at lightning quick speed. I left a tip for Tia, and said, "Thanks Tia! See you later!"

She chuckled and said, "No problem, sugar!"

We raced across the sandy beach. Cleo wanted to give up when we were almost there, but I grabbed her hand and pulled her along. People stared at us, wondering why we were in such a hurry, and mostly all pointed and gasped at me. I guess they didn't realize I had returned. I gave them hesitant smiles before speeding off. I bet that by morning, the word would have spread around that I was back on Moonlight Island.

We got back to my house, and I checked my watch. I smiled as I saw that the moon would rise in about fifteen seconds. We ran past the cardboard covered windows and to my room. We passed Dafina's room, whose door was open. She shut it quickly and locked it when she saw me. I decided to talk to her later.

We settled around my room and talked for a few minutes. After about fifteen minutes, Rikki declared that she wanted snacks.

"Are you serious?" exclaimed Emma. "We just ate a huge dinner! Are you really that hungry?"

Rikki looked at her. "Do you know me at all?"

I sighed and got up. "Okay, I'll go get some snacks." Just to be safe, I grabbed a pair of sunglasses and slipped them over my eyes.

"Wait!" cried Cleo. She stood up, and took a second pair of sunglasses. "I'm coming."

"Me too," Emma said, mimicking our motions—taking the sunglasses and standing up.

"I might as well come too," Rikki said, sighing. She grabbed my last pair of sunglasses. "No offense, Avery, but you have a terrible taste in snacks."

I pouted and led my friends downstairs.

Dafina POV

I shut my bedroom door as quickly as I could when I heard Aysel come up. I really didn't want to face her—I was still incredibly mad at her for choosing Australia over Moonlight Island (even thought Moonlight Island was part of Australia.)

I heard her and her friends talking, but it was too blocked for me to understand what they were saying. I eventually got bored and went downstairs for popcorn.

When I got downstairs, I noticed on every window was a piece of cardboard taped in place with duct tape. What the heck? I popped in a bag of popcorn in the microwave, and while it was cooking, I tore down as much cardboard as I could. Why was it even there?

I took the popcorn bag up to my room and ate some of it. I heard Aysel's bedroom door open and close, and pairs of feet come out. They probably needed something downstairs. I held my breath as they passed my room.

Aysel/Avery POV

I held onto the wooden railing as I went downstairs. I could barely make out anything in the dark of downstairs, so I whipped off the sunglasses to see the other girls doing the same. I was rummaging through our snack assortment, and grabbed a bag of sour cream and onion chips, when I heard, "Hey, Avery?" It was Rikki. "Do you have any—" Something cut her off.

I whipped around to see Emma, Cleo and Rikki staring at something. The window? Wait, the window…oh no.

I went over to them, which was a big mistake. I ended up looking out the window, too. White washed over my face as I saw the most beautiful thing in the world.

The moon. I suddenly realized that I was stupid in thinking that Tia was beautiful. Please! She was disgusting next to that big, round white circle in the sky. No, the moon was striking, like it wound the whole world together with its beautiful rays of nothingness.

It whispered to me a mission. I was sure it told the same thing to Rikki, Cleo, and Emma, because when I turned to them, they were nodding. I checked my fingernails, hoping they were yellow for happy—nope. They had no polish on them. None at all. I had no emotion.

Once the moon was done with Cleo, Emma and Rikki, we headed upstairs. I pushed open Dafina's door, and found her lying across the bed, with a popcorn bag on her stomach, and a few miscellaneous pieces around the room. When she saw me, she shot up and sat straight. "A? What are you doing? Get out!"

I smiled at her. "Come with me."

"I'm still mad at you," she huffed. "What do you want?"

I ignored her question, and said, "I'm sorry. Come with me."

She got up out of her bed, but still shot me dagger eyes. She was still mad. I didn't care. I had a mission to complete.

We led her around the island, finally stopping at a hole in the rock. "Why are we here?" she asked me.

All I did was push her in. She screamed while sliding down. We all followed.

I led Dafina to the moon pool. She looked up at the full moon, which was almost covering the top of the volcano. Her eyes widened at the sight, and she spun around, her back facing the moon pool.

We advanced over to her, and she took a few timid steps back. She glanced behind her—she was at the edge of the moon pool. In a shaky voice, she said, "You can't make me go in there!"

Cleo and I looked at each other and smiled. Using our powers, we lifted Dafina up into the air. We pushed her into the area between the moon pool and the top of the volcano with the wind, kind of like what we did with Charlotte. She tried to wiggle out of the grip of the wind. I looked at Cleo and nodded. We both dropped her at the same time.

Dafina POV

I spun around to face the girls. Their faces were expressionless. I could have cried out when they got closer to me. I took tiny steps backward, not wanting to fall into the moon pool. I knew what would happen if I did. What was wrong with the girls?

I tried to threaten that couldn't make me go in, but all they did was smile. Aysel and…Cleo, I think it was, did a weird motion with their hands. I looked at them curiously. What were they doing? As quickly as they did the motions, I felt the ground under my feet vanish. I gasped and looked around me. Some kind of wind force was blowing me up into the space between the top of the volcano and the pool of water right under my feet. I squirmed around, and then felt air rush past me. Aysel and Cleo had let me go! I fell into the moon pool, and pushed myself up to the surface as quick as I could. Once I broke into the surface, I saw the girls looking at me with smug smiles on their faces. I gulped and looked up. The moon was just positioning itself at the top.

Little bubbles of magic rushed to the moon out of the pool. I watched as the water around me glowed. Then, it stopped. The bubbling and churning stopped, and it all held still. Did I break it? Probably not. But where was my tail? Did it have yet to come?

I looked up and Aysel. She looked pretty happy, as if she completed something. I swam out the entrance, discarding my sister and her friends. I made it back home, cold and shivering. I went to bed—cold clothes and all—and barley slept.

**A/N: Please R&R!**

**Rikki's Random Question of the Day: What is the weirdest food you have tried? Was it actually good?**


	20. The Fifth

A/N: The 20th chapter! Where did the time go? Just a heads up, this story will probably not get to the 30th chapter. I can't tell you when it will end—honestly, I can't. I know exactly _how_ I want to end it, but have no idea how many chapters in between now and the finale will be. Enough of ending! We still have chapters to go! And just in case I don't update this story until after Christmas, I'll just say it now: Merry Christmas everyone! (Or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa. I celebrate Christmas myself, but whichever you celebrate, Happy Holidays!)

Marril96: I know right! I post the chapter, then I go back later, and all of a sudden its knocked down to #7! I'm like, O.O And yes, in this story, she was in the show for the second season.

**majobloem: roasted grasshoppers, weird…wonder if I'll ever try it…**

**MermaidRaven: Thanks a bunch for your review! :)**

The Fifth TuesdayAysel/Avery POV

I opened my weary eyes to the world around me. Where was I? Let's see…rocky cavern walls. A huge pool of water in front of me…and sand on the ground. The moon pool! But what was I doing here?  
I got up and held my head in my hand. I spied Emma, Cleo and Rikki peacefully sleeping in the sand around me. What happened yesterday? I remembered that we were in a restaurant, and met Tia. Let's see…we barely made it into our rooms before the moon rose. Then we went downstairs to get snacks…everything after that was a complete and utter blank. I knew that must have meant that we got moonstruck. Oh, great.

I groaned as I stood up. I decided to wake up the others. I started with Cleo.

"Cleo," I gently said. Her eyelids fluttered, then opened.

"Aysel?" she said tiredly. I nodded.

She slowly started moving, and stood up. "Where are we?"

"The moon pool," I said blandly. She groaned, probably realizing what had happened yesterday night.

I woke Emma next. She was easy to get going. She got out of her tired state easily—probably from her countless years of getting up early for swimming practice.

Rikki was the hardest. I tried shaking her, yelling at her, but nothing worked. Cleo just rolled her eyes, and told everyone to stand back. We did so, and she created a geyser of water using her powers. She sprayed Rikki in the face.

"Cleo!" Rikki said, suddenly awake. She bolted to her feet and looked down at her soaked body. She rolled her eyes at Emma's smirk as she fell to the floor as a mermaid.

Rikki shot Cleo dagger eyes. "What do I do now?"

Cleo smiled and blew a gust of wind at her, drying her quickly. Once she was dry, she asked what had happened. Cleo quickly explained that we got moonstruck.

"Yeah, but what _happened_?" asked Emma. "While we were moonstruck?"

We all looked at each other. "I hope not much damage," I said, shuffling my feet. "Why don't we regroup at my house?"

We agreed, and swam away.

Dafina POV

When I awoke, my clothes were dry, and so were my bed sheets. I climbed out of my bed and yawned. I was still so tired and confused of the happenings of last night. I fell asleep at about three AM, which was not enough sleep for me.

I walked to my bedroom door, and got out. I heard the rustling of feet, and the closing of the door. It was probably Aysel, so I crouched down and hid myself behind the bathroom door, peering out the crack that connected the door to the wall. I saw Aysel and her friends come upstairs.

"So, what do you think happened yesterday?" asked Rikki, leaning on the banister. I held my breath, not wanting them to hear me. They were so close, so close…

"I don't know," whispered Cleo. "That's what scares me."

"Guys, we've made it through multiple full moons, not knowing what happened, with the risk that we cause damage…why don't we ask Dafina? We were in the same house as her, and we might have even talked to her," suggested Aysel. I bit my lip and stood up, revealing myself to the girls. They all looked at me with guilty expressions on their faces.

"You did more than just talk to me," I said beneath tears.

"I'm sorry," apologized Aysel. "We weren't aware of what was happening to us…see, we were moonstruck. It only happens on full moons. It's a mermaid thing…"

She said it like I wouldn't understand. My tears overflowed and washed away any sadness on my cheeks. "I guess I'll know what that feels like soon," I said, crying.

They looked at each other with worried expressions on their faces. Aysel said, "Dafina, what…"

"Don't talk to me!" I cried in rage, stepping back into the bathroom. I locked the door and pressed my back against it, choking down the rest of the unwanted sobs that had escaped my throat. After a few minutes, they left me alone.

I went to the bathroom and turned on the faucet. I watched the water run into to the bathtub. I—as silently as I could—unlocked the door. If they wanted to come in and see what they had done to me, so be it.

Once the bath was drawn, I cautiously stepped in, and sat down. I looked as my tanned legs happily sitting in the tub. After a few seconds, I smiled. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe I wasn't a mermaid….

Just then, my legs got tingly. I was scared to death as my legs went away and was replaced with a long, orangish bronze tail. I covered my mouth as I stared at it. I finally uncovered my mouth, and let the realization sink in. Yes, this was my new life.

I leaned my head on the back of the bathtub. I relaxed in the hot water, trying to get used to the feeling of having not two things attached to my waist, but one.

Soon there was a knock on the door. "Dafina?" Aysel asked in a timid voice. "Can we come in? Or are you in the bath?"

I took a deep breath and said, "Yes, come in."

They all came in at once. When they saw me, they all gaped in awe. I just looked away, and started to drain the tub.

I climbed out of the bathtub. I looked up at the girls.

Rikki was the first to recover. She crouched down next to me, and balled her fist over my tail. Steam rolled off my tail, and was soon replaced by my legs. So they weren't gone forever!

"While you were 'moonstruck' yesterday night, you dropped me into the moon pool with your powers," I said.

I went back to my room, with the girls behind me. I sat down on my bed, staring up at the ceiling. The girls let me be silent in my worries for a while. Finally, Rikki broke the silence. "Congrats. So what's your power?"

I sat up. "Pardon?" I said.

"Your power," she repeated.

"I get a power?" I said, amazed. Maybe there was an upside to this whole mermaid thing!

"Sure," Emma put in. "Let's go downstairs. We'll show you."

So we went downstairs. Emma first showed me her ice and cloud powers. Then Cleo demonstrated her water and wind ability. Rikki then took the plate and heated up a glass of water, and then showed me her lightning and fire power.

Last but not least, Aysel stepped forward and illustrated her two powers. When they were done, I was amazed.

"What do you think I can do?" I asked, staring longingly at the glass of water they used their powers on.

"Why don't you try your sister's powers first?" offered Cleo. "Maybe it has something with genes."

"Okay," I said, taking a deep breath. I stepped forward; setting my undivided attention on my hairbrush that was resting peacefully on a countertop. Using Aysel's quick hand motion, I concentrated on the item, imagining it floating in the air.

Nothing.

"Damn," I said, dropping my hand. "What's wrong with me?"

"Nothing," Aysel said soothingly. "You just don't have my power. Why don't you try Rikki's next?"

"Why mine?" Rikki asked. Obviously she was somehow agitated at the thought of sharing her power.

"Because she has your personality," Aysel shot back at her. She turned to me and motioned to the cup. "Go ahead."

Aysel/Avery POV

Dafina balled her fist, which was pointing to the glass of water, just like Rikki would do. I held my breath, but just like my power, it was fruitless.

"I'm hopeless," Dafina wailed, her chin tilting to the sky. "A hopeless failure."

"Hey, now, we still have two more powers to try," Emma said.

"But what if she doesn't have one of our powers? What then?" asked Cleo.

"Maybe she does, and maybe she doesn't, but right now would be best just to try it," I said. "Try Emma's power."

A desperate Dafina made a stop sign motion to the water. She concentrated so hard that I thought I saw her veins popping out of her forehead. After about twenty endless seconds, she gave up.

"I guess you have my power," said Cleo, smiling weakly. I could tell that she was kind of upset about sharing a power ever since the whole Charlotte thing popped up.

"Why doesn't she just try first before we can make any assumptions?" asked Rikki. I nodded, agreeing.

I turned my full attention to the glass of water. I saw Dafina out of the corner of my eye do a motion like Cleo as she would when trying to levitate water. I turned my focus back on the glass. I saw the other girls do so as well.

"Nothing!" cried Dafina with rage. I turned my attention now away from the glass filled with tampered with water to Dafina. I decided I would comfort her as best as I could.

I was startled to see that Dafina wasn't where she was standing seconds ago. Did she run away once she couldn't succeed to do any of the powers? If so, could she really go that fast? I hadn't heard any footsteps.

I saw the girls were amazed, too. "Dafina, where are you?" I called.

"Right here," said a confused voice, seemingly coming out of nowhere. I jumped in fright. No one was there!

"But…but we can't see you!" I cried. I turned to the girls. "Can you guys see her, or am I just going Looney Toons?"

"I can't see her," said Cleo.

"You can't?" asked the air—or, I guess, Dafina. "Why not?"

I swiped a small hand mirror off the counter, and blindly held it out to Dafina. I couldn't see her, so I didn't know where she was.

I felt the mirror being taken out of my hand. I watched in shock as the mirror started to float in mid air. Dafina seemingly held it up to inspect her face.

She screamed, and dropped the mirror, which startled me. Glass shards flew all over the floor.

"Dafina!" I cried in exasperation. I used my power to pick up the shards and throw them away.

"Do…do you think…this is my…my power?" asked an invisible Dafina.

I broke into a grin. "I think it is!"

I heard a squeal, which soon halted. "But how to I turn visible again?"

I scratched my chin. "Hm. It seems that the hand motion that Cleo makes is what sets it off. Maybe try to do it again?"

"Okay," she said. A couple of seconds later, she reappeared, her hand in the special position. Her eyes were shut closed, as if fearing if she opened them that she wouldn't reappear. "Am I visible?"

I smiled, and scooped up a broken piece of the mirror on the ground that I must have missed. "You tell me."

She held up the mirror to her face and slowly opened on eye. Seeing her face in the reflective glass, she opened the other one. She grinned and rubbed her face. "I'm back!" she cried happily. She placed the mirror shard back on the table. "And I have a power!"

For the rest of the day, she practiced her power, flashing on and off of her invisibility power. It got pretty old to me and the girls, but she never tired of it.

At three o'clock precisely, my watch beeped. I looked at its tiny screen. "Oh, I have to run girls. I have to see my mom." I went to the back door and slipped on my purple and gold flip-flops. "Make yourselves at home. Snacks are in the cupboard. Dafina, would you like to come?"

"Would I!" she said, and went out the door with me. She flashed into her invisibility mode just for fun. It was a little weird seeing footprints in the sand just appear next to me. Then I had an idea.

"Hey, Daf?" I asked. "Kick off your sneaker, will you?"

"Um, sure," said a voice next to me. She took off her shoe, and suddenly it appeared next to me.

"Cool!" she cried. "So whatever I wear goes invisible with me, and whatever I take off goes normal again!"

"Now touch me," I said, curious. I felt a hand on my arm, and I studied myself. Nope—nothing.

"Concentrate," I said. "Picture me invisible with you."

After a few minutes, I suddenly disappeared. Shocked, I pulled away from my sister, which caused me to appear again.

"Let me get this straight," she said. "My power is to turn invisible. Whatever I'm wearing goes invisible with me. If I take it off, it reappears just as I would. And if I concentrate, I can turn things I touch invisible too."

"I think there is more to this," I said. "After visiting mom, I want to practice with you how to maybe turn things invisible with your touch like you can, then if you stop touching it, it is still invisible until you concentrate again and it reappears."

"Cool," said Dafina. "But right now, I think we're here."

I looked ahead of me to see a hospital looming over me. Dafina reappeared and squeezed my hand. I smiled at her, took a deep breath, and pushed past those heavy metal doors separating me and what was important to me.

**A/N: I really hope you enjoyed this chapter and Dafina's power! I don't remember how I came up with it…maybe I was thinking of how awesome it would be to become invisible. Which leads me to this next Rikki's Random Question…**

**Rikki's Random Question of the Day: If you could have one superpower, what would it be? (It doesn't have to be related to H2O.)**


	21. Visiting

**A/N: 21****st**** chapter! Lol, I should really stop that…okay! Down to business! THIS IS IMPORTANT: I WANT TO MAKE SURE ALL OF YOU GUYS GIVE A ****HUGE**** THANK YOU TO MARRIL96! SHE CAME UP WITH DAFINA'S SECOND POWER! YAY! Okay, off of the caps, I need to give a second thanks to Marril96 for the second power idea! Make sure you all thank her!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own H2O.**

Visiting

I took a deep breath and walked into the awaiting hospital. The clean white sight was enough to twist my stomach in knots.

I went up to the front desk and asked the receptionist where my mother was staying. Of course the lady recognized me, and gushed on and on about how she thought I wasn't truly back. I just kept my smile up and said, "Well, yeah," and, "Mm, hmm."

Once she was done and I finally got the room directions, Dafina and I raced down the hall to make up for lost time when talking to the receptionist. About halfway there, we didn't realize that in the hall we were in was waxed, so we started slipping and sliding down the hall, which ended in us laughing and sliding down the hall until the janitor shooed us away, which made us break out in giggles.

"Okay," I said once I made it to the outside of the door. "You stay put, okay? I want to talk to mom alone."

Dafina scowled and crossed her arms. "Well," she said in a huff. "Someone's moody."

I opened the door and entered. I turned back and waggled my finger at Dafina, who was now sitting on a chair in the hallway. She made a face as I closed to door behind me.

I turned around and slowly entered the room. "Mom?" I asked in a shaky voice.

"Dafina?" A voice came from further into the room. I stepped in to see my mom holding a book beneath her clasped and fragile fingers. She hadn't looked like she'd changed a bit.

She gasped when she saw me, and I broke out into a smile. I went over to her and gave her a hug, but not too tight.

A year. A whole 365 days. 8760 hours. That's how long I'd been separated from her.

"What are you doing here?" she asked once I settled myself in a seat.

"Feglio," I said simply. "Gotta love that guy."

"Ah," she said nodding. When I had said his name, here eyes sort of lit up with something. Love? I sure hoped so.

I decided to explain exactly where I went and how I survived, which took me a long time. After some silence, she asked, "So are you still a mermaid?"

Her statement sort of shocked me. Any other person who brought it up would have probably have stated it like this: "So…are you still a…you know…a mer…mermaid?" But my mother stated it loudly, and if not, proudly.

"Yeah," I said, and thinking quickly, I added, "Dafina is one too. She…um…_accidentally_ fell in the moon pool last night, during a full moon."

"Dafina is a mermaid?" my mother asked, stunned.

A sudden voice beside me said, "Yes, but don't be mad at Aysel. She didn't do anything wrong, I swear. If you want to be mad at someone, be mad at _me_ for falling in."

My mother jumped just as Dafina suddenly appeared. I shot her a look, and she looked guilty. "Sorry. I heard you explaining where you came from, and I, I ah…got interested?" she said, as if it was a question, not a statement. She looked to mom, and said, "And sorry for scaring you. Disappearing is my mermaid power."

"Yeah, but how'd you get in? I shut the door, and would have seen it come open," I said, glancing at the shut tight door.

Dafina's sad eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. "Oh, yeah! I got bored in the hallway, and discovered a second power! Watch!" She stuck out her hand in a weird position, and then thrust it at my stomach. I prepared myself for the pain, but instead, I screamed. Dafina's hand was going right through me, as if I was a ghost!

She smiled. "It's so fun. Watch this." She spun around and thrust her hand through the wall. A few seconds later, a scream was heard at the other room, with a, "There's a hand sticking out of my wall!"

"Dafina!" I scolded, and pulled her arm out of the wall. But she kept her smile up.

"I bet it would be fun with my face through the wall. Imagine someone shouting, 'A face! There's a weird looking face in my wall!'" Then she doubled over laughing. "I walked through the door to get in here, by the way."

I just studied her and her quirky behavior with a weird expression on my face. Then I turned to look at my mom, who was staring intently out the window. Little flakes of snow were falling down from the sky. I sucked in my breath at the magical sight. Usually it didn't snow on our island, it only got a little chilly. But there was a rare snowing once in a while. I only saw snow on the island when I was four, and another when I was eleven.

"Pretty extraordinary," my mom muttered, turning back to us. "You'd better go and enjoy it. Just don't get wet." Then she smiled.

I smiled back and got up to hug her. I said, "I love you," just before walking out the door with Dafina.

Dafina ran through the hall, obviously eager to go into the snow. Once we were at the front door, it was still snowing. I held back Dafina, and told her the snowflakes would probably get us wet if we stepped out. So we waited there for it to stop.

It must have been snowing our whole visit, because a fresh, light white blanket of snow was already laid down on the grass. Soon, after it had snowed and my sister and I were free to leave, the snow was a good height, but not that high, because it hadn't snowed for a while.

So Daf and I ran all the way home just to find Emma, Cleo and Rikki in a heated snowball fight on my yard.

"Guys!" I shouted. All heads turned my way. "What are you doing?"

"Don't worry!" Cleo said, running up to me, her cheeks red. "We know snow is water. That's why we really packed on the clothing. And the rules for the game is that we can't hit each other that's not covered up by clothing, like our face." Just then, a snowball came whizzing through the air and hit Cleo's back, which was covered with a thick winter coat, and who knows how many sweaters inside. Cleo turned to see a smirking Rikki behind her.

"Oh, it's on!" she cried, and balled up a snowball using the light covering of snow on my lawn. I wondered how much snow would be left after our little snowball brawl.

"Count me in!" I cried, and headed inside to put on heavy snow stuff. Once I was done, I emerged outside just to be met with a snowball on the front of my coat, seemingly coming from nowhere. Dafina then appeared about a few feet ahead of me. I gave her a death glare, and rewarded her by throwing a snowball at her.

The snowball game was pretty close, but we finally got so tired and cold that we went inside. We all simultaneously agreed that it was probably Rikki who had won, since she dodged most throws aimed towards her and hit people so many times I lost count.

"Hot chocolate for everyone!" I declared, and made them all a steaming hot mug of hot chocolate.

We all settled around a wooden table, and I took a sip of mine. "Ugh, it's too hot!"

"Really?" asked Emma. She took a sip of hers. "Tastes fine to me."

"Not to me," I groaned, but took another sip of it. That too burned my tongue. All the others tasted theirs, and said it was fine.

I guess I complained so much that everyone got so fed up with my grumbling, that Emma froze my drink. "There," she said, replacing her hand back on her cup. "Cold enough for you?"

I shot her a glare and looked pleadingly at Rikki. She rolled her eyes and balled her fist over my iced drink, and slowly warmed it. I tasted it every few seconds to see if it was hot enough. I finally said 'stop' when it reached its designated degree.

"Speaking of powers," Dafina said, placing her warm mug on the table, "Me and Aysel figured out my second one."

"Really?" asked Cleo. "What is it?"

She smiled and concentrated. She then took her hand and put it through the couch. Everyone gasped.

"Neat," said Rikki. "Can you, like, reach into a box and grab something?"

"I don't know," confessed Dafina. "Why don't we try it out?"

So I went upstairs and grabbed my jewelry box, and filled it with necklaces and bracelets and jewelry miscellaneous. I brought it back downstairs.

Dafina used her power and put her hand in the box. She fished around for a while, and grabbed something. Unfortunately, once she grabbed it, her hand lost power and was stuck in the box lid.

"Um," she said, shaking her arm around. "This feels weird." She used her power to get her arm unstuck.

After a few more times, she finally got the hang of it, and got out a few pieces of jewelry. After a while, she had out every piece that was in the box.

"Nice work," I said, and piled it all back in the box. "Pretty useful power, if you ask me. And, if you don't mind, there is one more thing I want to see if you can do."

We practiced what I had in mind, and finally, I was able to get her to turn other people invisible, and have them stay that way until she turned visible again, even if she stopped touching us. She was able to turn us all (Emma, Cleo, Rikki, and I, including herself) invisible at a time. I think that was her limit, though.

"This is going to be fun," she said. "And I have to admit; I kind of like being a mermaid." I smiled and hugged her, satisfied that she enjoyed it.

"See if you still feel that way in a month when ten mad scientists lock you up in a cage," said Rikki, and we all pelted her with pillows, laughing.

**A/N: R&R.**

**Rikki's Random Question of the Day: What is your New Year's resolution? (My fanfiction resolution is to review people's stories more often. That, and to update more often.)**


	22. One Step Further

A/N: Okay, so it's like late at night, but I forced myself down to write this next chapter, because it's the end of the story, and I've been slacking off a lot…sigh. Oh well, the chapter is here now.

**Disclaimer: I do not own H2O.**

One Step Further

I was flipping through some pictures I had still in my old room. They mainly consisted of the scenery around the island, but some had my friends in it, too.

Cleo, Emma and Rikki were all asleep downstairs on my couches, considering it was pretty late at night. I could faintly hear crickets chirping out my window.

I flipped through each page, one after another, laughing and smiling as I remembered each scene. I finally closed to book tightly and slid it under my bed with a sigh.

I then pulled my cell phone out of my pocket. I winced at the harsh light it gave off into my eyes. I quickly got used to it and started to scroll through my pictures.

They were mostly of Emma, Cleo, Rikki, Zane, Lewis, Ash, and some of my other friends with me. We had decided beforehand to not take any pictures of us as mermaids, as our phones could fall into the wrong hands. For example, what happened with Charlotte and the video of Gracie as a mermaid. I sighed and snapped the phone shut.

I felt tired and weak. My head slowly tipped to the side, and I laid down on the carpet. I never had realized how comfy the carpet was, but I guess you learn when you're incredibly tired.

My eyes closed and I thought only of Moonlight Island, the volcano, and all my friends…but occasionally The Gold Coast would slip into my mind.

OoOoO

I awoke to the sound of sizzling and the microwave going, along with Emma's voice saying, "No, Cleo, don't put the bread in the microwave!"

I checked my watch: 8:47 a.m. I got up and stretched, then realized that I was wearing the same clothes as I did yesterday, because I had fallen asleep in them.

I went into the bathroom and changed into a light blue tank top, and white Capri's. I put on my necklace, and then went downstairs.

"Morning," Dafina said, her back to me, facing the stove. I glanced over her shoulder to see some scrambled eggs in a pan.

"Anything I can help with?" I asked. I wanted to help out somehow.

Emma handed me a few slices of bread. "Can you make the toast? I guess Cleo didn't know how to make it!" she shouted over her shoulder, the words meant mostly for Cleo.

Cleo glared at her, a bit embarrassed that she couldn't make the toast. She turned back to pouring glasses of juice, and Emma returned to cooking the bacon so it was nice and crisp.

I popped the toast in the toaster, and when it popped back up, I stacked the slices on a plate and set them on the table, along with some butter and jam.

Rikki then walked in, obviously sleepy. "What's going on? It smells good," she said, sitting down at the table.

Emma set down the bacon on the table while Cleo put down the glasses full of juice and the plates. Dafina put some scrambled eggs on everyone's plate.

We all sat down and began to eat. I had to admit it was pretty good.

"So, what's on the agenda for today?" asked Rikki, spreading some jam on a piece of toast.

I shrugged. "Whatever you guys want to do."

We exchanged ideas, each being pretty bad. Finally, Emma said, "I know what we can do today!"

"What? Please, before we die of boredom," Cleo said, munching on a strip of bacon.

"We can go swimming, and maybe teach Dafina how to swim with her tail," she said, smiling in triumphant even though she didn't get a reaction yet.

"Hey, that's a good idea," I said. "It's a nice day." I gestured out the window, where a cloudless sky was resting. "How about it, Dafina?"

"Sure," she said uncertainly. Probably just nervous, was all.

"Okay, it's set," Rikki said. "After breakfast we go and swim!"

OoOoO

We all stared out into the clear, blue ocean. On the beach, where the water just touched the shore, shells littered the edge.

"Pretty," admitted Emma, sliding off a shoe and digging her big toe in the sand.

"Moonlight Island's water always is," I informed her. I then turned to Dafina. "You ready?"

She looked at me for a while, and then nodded.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Rikki asked, running into the cool, refreshing waters that awaited us. Cleo and Emma laughed and joined her. Their heads didn't come up.

"Let's go," I told Dafina, and grabbed her hand. She smiled weakly at me, then—to my surprise—started running full speed to the water, dragging me along.

"Let's go see what you guys always talk about!" Dafina yelled, as we both plunged into the cool darkness.

We unhooked hands, and at first, I couldn't find Dafina or the girls. I watched as I grew my tail, and then started looking.

I finally found Dafina. She wasn't far from where we had dived in, probably because she hadn't yet learned how to officially swim with her tail yet. I saw that her tail was weighing her down. I hid in the shadows, waiting for her to catch on. It was up to her now.

Her arms swished back and forth as she tried to regain her balance. I felt a light tapping on my shoulder. I spun around to see Cleo tapping my shoulder, and Emma and Rikki behind her.

I put my fingers to my lips, signaling them to not make a sound (if you could make a sound underwater.) I turned back to watch Dafina, but was surprised to find that the spot she was in was now empty.

I turned to the girls, where they all shrugged their shoulders. We swam out from the shadows, and started looking. After only a minute, Dafina jumped out from beneath a coral reef, surprising us all. She seemed to be totally handling her new tail and swimming abilities well, so I smiled, overjoyed that she had learned to swim with her tail.

We all swam around, looking at the fish and coral reefs. It never really got tiring, because every day you'd probably find a fish with a pretty pattern, or a fish you don't think you'd seen before.

Cleo came up to me, and motioned to the underwater entrance of the volcano on Moonlight Island. I nodded and got the others.

When we all surfaced in the moon pool, we were all laughing, especially Dafina. She seemed the most enthusiastic of us all. I guess she'd really liked the swim.

"I can't believe that now I could do that every day," she said, smiling. "It'll be a blast!"

"Oh, it is," Cleo said, and I nodded in agreement. Dafina then babbled on and on about the sea, the fish, the nature….

Once we got tired of listening to her, we began to disperse. We swam back to the shore, where Rikki sped up the drying off process with her power. When we were done, we headed home.

I decided to take a bath, so I drew it and then stepped in. I relaxed in the hot water as my tail grew.

I thought a lot in the bath about yesterday night. I was looking at the pictures from Australia and Moonlight Island a year ago. I realized that I really missed Australia and wished that I could be back there to hang out with my friends, or at least say goodbye. But at the same time I wanted to stay at Moonlight Island, and make up for the time I had left the island.

After a while, I drained the tub and dried off. I slipped on my clothes and headed out the door.

I went downstairs to find Emma, Cleo and Rikki lounging on the couch. I joined them, and watched Dafina, who was on the phone.

"Oh," she said, a bit surprised. "Are you sure? No, you can't be right."

I looked at her curiously, and she glanced back, as if sorry for me. I turned away quickly.

"But there's still a chance, right?" asked Dafina into the phone. There was murmuring on the other end, and then Dafina looked defeated.

"Right. Barely a chance. But still possible, right?" Now I was overly curious. What was she talking about?

"Okay. Thanks so much for your help. Yeah, bye." Dafina hung up the phone, and stared down at the black color of the phone.

"What was that all about?" I asked.

Dafina continued to stare down at the phone. After a while, she heaved it at the carpet.

We all shot up and the sudden burst of anger. "Whoa, dude, you've got problems," Rikki said, looking down at the phone, which was fine, thank goddess to the cushion of the carpet.

I shot a look at Rikki, and then asked to Dafina, "What happened, Daf?"

She said nothing as she grabbed my hand and led me upstairs. I shot an apologetic look at Cleo, Emma and Rikki as I went upstairs.

Dafina brought me to her room, where she sat on her bed. I took a seat on a chair that furnished a corner of her room. I then asked her for the third time what was the matter.

Dafina looked at me, and hot tears began to fall down her cheeks. I immediately came over to her and comforted her, even though I had no clue what was going on.

After a hefty amount of time, she finally began to talk. "Aysel..." she whispered. "That was the hospital calling. They said that mom got an infection from her wound, and they aren't sure that she's going to make it. There's a chance she will, but she probably won't."

I was speechless as I continued to rub Dafina's back as she bawled her tears. I tried to hold mine in and be a good role model, but they ended up falling anyway.

A/N: So, in reviews, I want you guys to vote on if you want her mother to survive or not. Anyway, I hope you liked it!

**Rikki's Random Question of the Day: If you could be any animal, what would it be and why?**


	23. What Now?

**A/N: Thanks to those who R&R-ed! :)**

**What Now?**

"Hey, A, do you have any of those ocean blue hair clips I could use?" Dafina yelled across the upstairs hallway, her voice booming against the walls.

"No, I don't!" I cried back. "And quit yelling! Everyone will hear you!"

I sighed and continued to brush through my hair, and pin it up to my pleasure. I tried different styles, but I ended up just wearing it down.

It was a day after we'd gotten the bed news that our mother might die. Today, we were going to visit her and see how she was doing, while I kept my hopes up that she wouldn't pass away.

I stood up and examined myself in the body length mirror. I was wearing my favorite white dress with pink flip-flops that had white Hawaiian flowers printed all over them.

A thought then rang throughout my head, a thought so unexpected that I immediately dropped the brush I was holding with an, "Oh!"

"What is it, A?" asked Dafina, beginning to yell again.

"Nothing!" I called back, and sat back down on my plush chair in front of the mirror. I sighed as I ran over the thought in my head again, and I flashed back to a day about ten years ago.

Flashback

"_Well, don't you look pretty," cooed my mom as she continued to braid my hair. I smiled at my reflection, mesmerized by the purple dress I had on._

"_I love this dress you got me!" I cried, and spun around to hug her. "Thank you so much!"_

"_Oh, you are very welcome," she said, smiling at me._

_I turned back to the mirror. "Mom? Will I ever be the queen, like you?"_

_She smiled. "Of course you will, sweetheart. A queen has to be loyal, honest, and a great person, which is exactly what you are."_

"_When?" I asked in a timid voice, thinking being a ruler was so much little work than it really was._

"_When the throne is passed down to you by me," she said. "Or if I..."_

_I stared at her reflection. "If you what?"_

_She guiltily looked down, and picked up on braiding my hair. "Nothing."_

If she _died_. That's what she meant, and that's what I just realized. I also realized that if she did..._I_ would become queen. And I would have no choice but to stay. Well, I could leave, but that would mean leaving Dafina in the position when she was only fourteen.

"Hey, Aysel, check out today's newspaper," Cleo said, suddenly coming into my room. I jumped a bit at the sound of her voice, but took the newspaper and read the headline on the front page:

_Queen of Island May Die, Position to be taken over by Returning Daughter, Princess Aysel_

I sucked in my cheeks as I read what was written before the first comma, and then finished up the headline. When I was done, I promptly crumpled up the newspaper, strode over to the window, and threw it outside.

"Hey!" Cleo shouted. "I wanted to read that! I was interested in seeing news around the island."

"You want it?" I asked angrily. I pointed out the window. "Go and get it."

She narrowed her eyes. "Fine." Cleo turned and walked out the door.

Once she was gone, I felt bad. All she wanted to do was show me the newspaper, and I treated her like a jerk. I decided to apologize.

I ran downstairs and out the door. I saw Cleo standing below my window, picking up the crumpled newspaper. I went over to her and said, "Listen, Cleo, I'm sorry. I guess I got mad at the headline for just blurting it all out like that." I didn't say why I really threw it out the window—fear. I was afraid of how people would think of me, after they all saw me as a mermaid, and after I ran away for a year.

"Hey, you've got bigger things to worry about than apologizing to me," she said. At first I was confused. Did she mean that in a mean, snappy way? Or a reassuring way, like what I did wasn't that bad and I shouldn't have even worried about apologizing?

But then I saw what she meant. She meant it literally, considering there was a huge crowd coming up to us. I gulped and looked at Cleo. She looked a little overwhelmed, probably because she had never been the center of attention before.

Everyone started bombarding me with questions—Where did you run away to? Why are you back? Are you still a mermaid? Are you really going to become queen? I tried to answer everyone's questions, but over all the noise, it wasn't possible. So I just stood there, babbling, while Cleo stood shocked—stage fright, most likely.

After a long time, I stopped talking, and shouted, "QUIET!"

The crowd went from noisy to hushed. I took a deep breath and gave them a look that said, "I mean business."

I took a deep breath and said, "If you want answers, I'll give you answers, but you have to be quiet."

I watched as the crowd shuffled in silence. I bit my lip, and said, "I ran away to Australia. Why? Because I was afraid that no one would accept me. You all know what it's like to be different, right? Well, that's how I felt. I'm back because I heard that my mother was shot, so I couldn't just sit around in Australia after hearing that. Am I still a mermaid? Yes. Yes I am." I saw the crowd shift uncomfortably at that, but I reassured them that they needn't worry. "And as for the queen question..." I glanced at Cleo, who looked to be unfrozen from her state, and watching me, and back at the house—my house, not an apartment that I had to believe was my house—and at Dafina, who was staring out the house window, anxiously waiting for my answer, obviously hearing the question. I turned back to the crowd and said with a deep breath, "Say hello to your new queen."

OoOoO

"And do you remember that time we were on the beach, and Aysel was swimming in the ocean, and you were reading a magazine?" Dafina asked. "Then you finished reading and didn't see Aysel anymore? So you and me searched for an hour, but it turns out she was only collecting shells on the beach farther away from us?" Dafina and my mom laughed.

I scowled. "I was only six. Sorr-ee," I said, pronouncing each syllable.

Dafina continued laughing. "Yeah, well I was only three. And I didn't even really care where you were."

"I remember you stopped searching and started working on your sand castle eight times," mom said, joining in on the laughter.

"It wasn't eight," insisted Dafina.

"Oh, yeah? I counted," she said, smiling. Dafina blushed.

I knew why Dafina was in such a joyous mood. She just found out I was staying in Moonlight Island, and becoming queen (that is, if my mother died, which I really didn't want to think about.) I told her that I would be visiting Australia on a regular basis, and she seemed to accept that. In fact, she accepted it so much that she wanted to visit too. I warned her that the journey was exhausting, but she had her mind set on going.

"Remember when I made you a mud pie? When I was, like, five?" I asked her.

"Yes!" she cried, laughing at the memory. "And I was terrified of worms?"

"Oh, yeah," I said, putting the rest of the pieces together. "And there was a worm in it."

"And Dafina scream so loud," mom said, cracking a smile. We all laughed.

Then we were engulfed in silence.

"You seem fine," whispered Dafina.

My mom bit her lip. "I know. But the infection is still there."

"But its not fair!" shouted Dafina. I jumped at the sudden burst of scream coming from her. "Why?"

I hugged Dafina tight, but she coldly brushed it off by going right through my arms (using her power.) "I'm going to miss you," she whispered.

Then my mother started crying. I felt terrible, and Dafina and I got up to hug her. We then all started crying, and I just wished I could have been here a year ago and gone through the whole year. But instead I lost a year with my mother, and I may have lost my mother too.

OoOoO

"What was that?" I angrily screamed at Dafina, as she walked paces ahead of me. We were walking away from the hospital, away from the tears and sadness, and onto the beach, through the sand.

"What was what?" she shouted back. She kept on marching through the sand.

I clenched my flip-flops in my hand. "You know what! You made us all cry in the hospital! I cannot believe you!"

She kept on trudging ahead in silence. "I'm sorry," she finally said, stopping. I caught up to her, and saw hot tears streaming down her cheeks. "It was just a reaction."

I nodded. "I know. It's been hard on me, too. I'm also sorry."

She looked at me. "For what?"

I sighed. "For yelling at you. I really didn't mean it."

She smiled knowingly. "Okay. Thanks." She gazed out into the ocean. "Hey, I'll meet you back at the house. I'm going for a little swim."

"I'll join you," I said, smiling.

She did not return it. "Alone." And with that, she ran into the ocean and dived in.

I sighed and dug my toe into the sand, with was just beginning to turn cold from the evening. I checked my watch: 4:57 p.m. Wow, we had been in that hospital for a long time. I heard my stomach rumble, and realized we'd even missed lunch.

So I made my way back to the house, where I began to cook dinner. Cleo, Emma and Rikki had all came into the kitchen and asked if they could help in any way, which I brushed off, saying I could do it myself. I think they understood that I wanted to be alone, and this was my way of doing it.

I made steak, baked potatoes, and corn on the cob. I noticed as I set the basket of bread down in the center of the table that it smelled good.

I checked the clock, and wondered why Dafina hadn't come home yet. I nervously called Cleo, Rikki and Emma down to eat. They insisted that we wait for Dafina, but after an hour, I told them to eat, which they did.

I washed the dishes, still wanting to be alone. I took over three times how long it would take a normal person to wash dishes, considering I didn't want to get wet.

After I was done with that, I glanced out the window. It was pitch black. My heart started beating as I thought of Dafina, lost, scared, alone...

Just then the door banged open, revealing a dark figure in the doorway. I screamed, just as the figure flickered on the light to reveal her face.

"Don't worry," Dafina cooed. "It's only me."

"Where were you?" I asked, biting my lip. I pushed her plate into the microwave. My food was still untouched also, because I had wanted to wait for her. I punched in two numbers and listened to the hum of the microwave.

"Swimming," she said. "I'm sorry I took so long. I lost track of time." She paused. "Well, I didn't really lose track of time. I _made_ myself lose track of the time. I thought how it wasn't really that important if I returned home, considering mom was going to be...gone." She took a deep breath, and continued. "But then I remembered you. I remembered that you were back, and staying, and things were different now. So I came back. For you."

I smiled as I hugged her. Mid-hug, I spied Emma, Cleo and Rikki peering around the corner at us, all smiling. I mouthed, "Go!" to them, and they silently laughed, bending the corner and away from us.

Once both plates were done heating up, we ate in silence. After dinner, Dafina and I washed the plates slowly with our gloves. When we were done, I headed upstairs, exhausted.

OoOoO

The next morning, I woke up to the sunlight streaming through my window. I yawned and stretched.

The phone rang, and I groaned, covering my ears. I heard Dafina laugh. I blushed under my covers, not knowing that she had heard me from my room. There was some shuffling, which I guess was Dafina going up to get the phone.

I slowly began to drift back to sleep, but that wasn't fulfilled as Dafina ran into my room, and turned on the light.

"Daf!" I yelled, covering my eyes with my hand. Dafina let my eyes adjust to the wild brightness. When I was used to it, I sat up in my bed and asked, "What is it, Daf?"

She raced over to my bed. She seemed to be out of breath, probably because she had sprinted to my room, and her next sentence came out in a sputtered statement. "She...call...now...please...it..."

"Dafina, catch your breath," I advised her, smiling. Once she got her breath back, I asked her what was wrong.

She took a gulp of fresh air, and said, "The hospital called. And they have news."

I gaped at her, and readied myself to hear the news.

**A/N: Do you think she survived, or died? Please review :)**

**Rikki's Random Question of the Day: What is your dream house?**


	24. News Can Change Your Life

A/N: I left you guys at a major cliffy, so let's get on with the story and see where it leads us!

News Can Change Your Life

"Spit it out, Daf!" I yelled in her ear, impatient. The girl had a mouth, but she couldn't talk?

Dafina then collected me in a hug, and tightly squeezed me. I didn't get it. Was it a happy hug, or a sad hug?

"For heaven's sakes Dafina, tell me!" I said once she had let go of me.

"She's coming home tomorrow," Dafina said with a brilliant smile, showing all of her flawlessly white teeth. That's all she had to say for me to scream a happy scream and hug her.

OoOoO

"You'll be surprised at how tidy the house is," Dafina bragged to my mother as she pushed her out of the hospital and into the sunshine.

"I hope," my mom said with a smile and a twinkle in her eye. I smiled back.

We were just getting my mom out of the hospital the next day. She kept on going on and on about how good it was to be out of the hospital, even though she was in a wheelchair. Yes, the hospital insisted she be put into a wheelchair. They still had to decide for how long, or maybe permanent.

"Wait," Dafina said, skidding to a stop. I stopped along with her. "If you are out of the hospital, then doesn't that mean you're still queen? And that Aysel won't be queen? And so she doesn't have to stay?" Dafina cast a worried glance my way.

"Well, I did a lot of thinking," mom said, clasping her hands together. She looked at me. "And I thought that Aysel was fit to be a queen, just not yet."

I nodded in agreement; truth was, I was a little self conscious that I wouldn't be able to rule correctly, do anything right, or not please anyone.

"So what does that mean?" I asked uncertainly.

"That means that I will give up my throne to Aysel in a few years. She can return to Australia to her friends, finish high school, and maybe a year or so in college." She turned to me with a smile playing on her lips. "Does that sound fair?"

"It's perfect!" I said. "I could return to my friends, finish high school, and like you said, fit in a year or so of college!" I then realized that Dafina had not said a word. "Daf? You okay with that?"

She sucked in her cheeks, and slowly let out a breath. "I guess I could deal with a couple more years without you, as long as you come back, and as long as I visit you and those so-called friends of yours," she said with a wink.

I laughed. "Of course! I could show you Mako Island, Lewis, Ash, Zane, Shane, and all my other friends in Australia!"

"But you have to give me directions," Dafina reminded me.

"Sure," I said. "I won't forget."

"And, Aysel?" she asked.

"Yeah?"

"Just don't give me directions to Japan or something."

We laughed all the way home.

OoOoO

"So, mom, this is Rikki," I said, gesturing to the blonde with curly hair and deep blue eyes. My mother smiled and shook hands with Rikki.

"Cleo," I said, pointing at Cleo. She tucked a piece of her brown hair behind her ear and smiled, shaking hands with mom.

"And last but not least, Emma," I said.

Emma smiled and shook hands with her. "Pleased to meet you."

"Wait, if Emma's not least, then who is?" Rikki asked, looking at Cleo. We all just stared at Rikki.

"Hey!" she cried, using her hands to cover her face. We all laughed, and I playfully shoved her.

"Oh, come on Rikki, we're only kidding," I said.

"So, Aysel, bad news," Cleo said. "The school is almost repaired, and the principal is telling everyone that we are to return on Monday."

My jaw dropped open. "But that doesn't give us enough time! Today's Thursday!"

"Emma, Rikki and I will just have to leave tomorrow," Cleo said apologetically. "Sorry."

"Well," I said with a smile. "I'm coming too. For around three years, actually."  
"But I thought you were becoming queen!" Emma said, looking at my mom.

"Change of plans. I'm coming to Australia to finish high school, and enroll in a couple of years of college. In three years I'm returning to Moonlight Island to become queen. I'll be about twenty then."

"Wait," said Dafina, a hint of confusion in her tone. "Why was the school on fire in the first place?"

Our gazes then returned to Rikki. She shrugged. "Oops?"

"Well, I say we celebrate," I said. "I'm returning to Australia to be with my friends, I'm then coming back to become queen, and our mom is out of the hospital." I hugged her. "What more can we want? I say we swim!"

"Yeah!" Emma, Cleo, Rikki and Dafina cheered. I asked my mom if that was okay with her, and she told us to go right ahead. So off to the beach we went.

OoOoO

I smiled and closed my eyes, my head tilting towards the sun. I felt the warmth of the sun on my face, and everything seemed right in the world.

I snapped out of my fantasy to see Cleo, Emma and Rikki already diving into the ocean. Dafina winked at me and ran straight into the ocean, naturally slicing through the waves. I looked down to see a wave of water had splashed onto the shore and washed up around my ankles. I smiled and ran into the water, feeling happy for once.

Dafina was already skimming the ocean floor, looking at exotic shells and their patterns. I decided to join her, so I picked up a shell with an orange stripe and ran my fingers across its glassy surface.

Dafina zipped over to me, waving a pretty white curled shell in her hand (the one where you can "hear" the ocean in it.) I smiled and nodded. She placed the shell back on the ground, and swam away.

I swam in the other direction, and realized it was the direction of the moon pool. So I swam through the underwater entrance to find Emma and Rikki already lounging around in there, talking.

"Took you long enough," snorted Rikki.

I narrowed my eyes and splashed her. "You never told us we were meeting here! I thought we were just swimming." To that, Rikki shrugged.

A head with a thick mass of brown hair popped up out of the water. "Hey, I thought we were just swimming!" Cleo shouted.

I turned to Rikki, a smug smile planted on my face. She rolled her eyes and laughed.

A minute later, Dafina's head came out of the water. "I was looking for you guys! Figures you were here."

"Why wouldn't we be?" Emma asked, looking around the moon pool. "Moon pools are always brilliant."

We sat in silence for a while. Cleo was the first to admit, "I miss Mako."

"Yeah," Rikki agreed, looking around. "This one is pretty, but it just doesn't have the same feel, you know?"

"Yeah, I know exactly what you mean!" Emma said.

I kind of did, too. But it wasn't a longing towards Mako—it was more towards Moonlight Island. But that was probably just because this was my home. I wondered if all mermaids felt a weird pull of longing to their home moon pools—if they had one, at least.

I glanced up to see that the opening up top had revealed to us a handful of brightly colored stars sprinkled across the night sky. "Guys, I think its time to go," I said, observing the night sky.

Emma agreed with a small nod. "Let's go. We need to go to sleep. Big day of swimming tomorrow."

"Great," I groaned. "_Again_."

We all laughed hard as we swam under.

A/N: Next chapter will be the last. Where did the time go? Well, so far this is my longest fic, but I mean it really doesn't have much competition—it's up against my other poorly written first story, which is 16 chapters, and my H2O: What if? that is just beginning, and who knows how long that'll be?

**Rikki's Random Question of the Day: Last question :( (If I decide not to put it on another fic.) This one has two parts.**

**One: Do you have any random questions I for **_**me**_**? (I will answer them all in the next chapter.) You don't have to do this part if you just want to do the second part.**

**Two: If you could hang out with any celebrity, who would it be and why?**


	25. Leaving Again

**A/N: Here are the answers to your random questions...**

**AlyssaHolloway: I'm actually glad you brought that up. I was thinking of creating another chapter after this one of when she is twenty, and becoming queen. Probably not a sequel, but if you guys want, another chapter like that. I actually want to write another H2O fanfic that will have a sequel, maybe another after that...? (If it gets popular, of course.) But for this, only one if you guys want a chapter after this.**

**Marril96: Another good question I'm happy someone brought up. That will be revealed in this chapter (she asked who shot Aysel's mom.)**

**Sorry this chapter may be a bit short, it's because it is the end, and it's tying up loose strings.**

Leaving Again

Stuffing things in your pockets was hard.

I was filling my pockets with all the belongings I had took to the island, plus some other things from here, like money (I was running out of that!) and things that would remind me of home.

"Hey," I heard a soft voice from behind me. I spun around to see Dafina standing casually in the doorframe. "You forgot something."

I wore an expression of confusion when Dafina walked up to me. That cleared as she handed me a picture of us as little kids.

"What's this?" I asked with a smile.

"Something to remember me by."

I rolled my eyes. "I'll only be gone for, what, three years?"

"Three years too many," she said softly.

I sighed. "Dafina, are you sure you're okay with me leaving for a few years?"

"Yeah," she said with a smile. Then it disappeared slowly. "No. I mean, what am I supposed to do? Tell you to stay? If this is what you want, then I am not going to stand in your way."

"Oh, Daf," I said. I hugged her, and then pulled back. "If you ever need to tell me anything, _ever_, then you just tell me, okay?"

"Okay," she said, and hugged me again.

OoOoO"Ready?" asked Cleo. We were all standing on the sandy beach, ready to swim a long way home. A small crowd of people who lived on the island had gathered on the beach to watch us go. It felt pretty good not having to hide our tails.

Mom was sitting in a wheelchair, waiting, and watching. We already said our teary good-byes in private, and now I was pretty sure I was ready.

"Yeah, but first—" I started to say, but was cut off by a cry in the distance.

"_Oh My God!_" was a cry from the crowd, and I spun around quickly. Everything seemed pretty normal, until I spotted someone at the edge of the crowd. He was wearing all black, as if trying to shield himself from whatever would see him. I saw in his hand was a gun, and it was pointed directly at me!

The person who had shouted was a person from the crowd. That cry alerted everyone else in the crowd's heads to snap up (including mine.) The crowd shouted at him to stop, but he only did when Feglio tackled him to the ground. I momentarily forgot that this man was practically threatening me with a gun as I muffled my laughs against my sleeve.

Just as Feglio was about to take the man away, I stepped forward and said that I wanted to say something to the man. I tried to block out the crowd's eyes burning a hole on the back of my head as I calmly stepped forward to the man.

"Were you the one who shot my mother? And almost _killed_ her?" I said firmly, not letting the man scare me in any way; besides, Feglio was holding his arms back, and he seemed more scared of me than vice versa.

The man smiled and said in a thick Spanish accent, "Ah, the princess gets smart! Allow me to introduce myself, I am Hernán Rovers."

I narrowed my eyes at his full-of-himself attitude. "And what's your story?" I said, meaning why on earth she'd shot my mother.

"It was pretty easy, señorita," he said. "I felt that I would be a better ruler that your Madre over there, so I did what I had to do. What I didn't expect was you to come running all the way home. So I figured this was the perfect time to knock you down off the line too."

I gritted my teeth and clenched my hands. "Because of you, my mother is going to be in a wheelchair, and she was risking death. _Because of you_."

"If you want, I can boil him to death," a whispered voice came from behind me. I spun around quickly to see Rikki standing by me.

I smiled slowly. "No, Rikki." I turned back to Feglio and Hernán. "As for you, Hernán, I think you would be better suited in jail, off the island. And while you're there, you might as well stay there, considering you are banned from the island."

I watched as some new muscled men took away Hernán. When he looked at me, I smiled and waved at him sweetly. In my mind, I was laughing.

"Wow," Cleo said, walking up to me. "You handled that well."

I smiled. I knew I had some queen in me; I just had to dig it up. "Well, yeah." I blushed.

"Ready to go _now_?" asked Emma, obviously impatient to return to Australia and see Ash.

"One more second," I said. I walked up to Dafina, and told her, "So you remember everything?"

"Yeah," she said, smiling.

"What do you do on full moons?"

"Duct tape the windows and hide."

"What do you do if you get water on yourself, say, in a public place besides here that everyone actually _doesn't_ know that you're a mermaid."

"Run to a bathroom, or if the ocean is close, into that."

"Okay. And there is one more thing," I said lastly.

"What? What is it?" It was fun seeing Dafina panic a bit.

"Remember that I love you," I said, and pulled her into a hug. The crowd let out a, "Aw!"

I slowly pulled away from Dafina and went over to Feglio and my mom. Feglio had his hand rested on the back of her wheelchair.

"Mom?" I said.

She was crying a bit now, but I hoped she knew that I would come back no matter what. "Yes?"

"I'll be back in three years," I said, wetness starting to blur my vision a bit, but I could still see enough to pull her into a hug and whisper, "I love you."

Once I exchanged good-byes with Feglio, I started once more for the ocean. I saw Cleo, Emma and Rikki standing just by the shoreline, waiting anxiously for me. I stopped midway to the ocean, then turned back around and headed back for them.

"Guys," I said once I approached Feglio and my mom again. "There is one more thing I need for you two to do."

"Anything," Feglio said.

"Before I leave, I really need to see you guys kiss," I said, smiling.

My mom and Feglio (to my suspicion) were okay with it, and they kissed! The crowd erupted into applause, and I headed back down the sandy shore towards the ocean.

"All set?" Rikki said.

"I'm set." I smiled and looked at Emma, Cleo and Rikki. "Let's go home."

OoOoO

When we were _finally_ back home, we all met up with our boyfriends at The JuiceNet Café, where we all celebrated with smoothies. Shane surprised me with a bracelet, which I put on and marveled at its beauty.

"Okay, so let me get this straight," Lewis said, leaning back against one of the JuiceNet tables. "You are a princess?"

"Soon to be a queen," I said smiling, sipping my mango juice happily.

"And so you are finishing high school here, and then going to take a about a year of college?" Zane asked.

"Yeah," I said, stirring my drink casually.

"Well, you know what? Over the course of a few weeks, so much has happened," Cleo said. "Ayse—I mean, Avery told us her secret, took us to the island, where Dafina turned into a mermaid."

"A lot has changed," I agreed. Then I groaned. "I am so sick of jumping back and forth between the island and Australia."

Everyone laughed at my comment.

"But you know what?" I said. I sat down my juice, and hung an arm around everyone—Shane, Emma, Rikki, Cleo, Lewis, Zane and Ash.

"What?" asked Emma.

"I think I'm happy to be just right here for now," I said, and we all giggled.

At least what I had said was true. I was ready to stay here for a while, and then go back to the island. _My_ island. Nothing would change that.

**A/N: It felt so weird writing everyone back at the JuiceNet in Australia because I was just so used to writing them at Moonlight Island, you know? So, I hope you enjoyed my story, and I am hoping to start another one, maybe not real soon, but soon enough. So here is the major question: Do you want me to write another short chapter after this of her going back to the island, twenty years old and ready to become queen? It's up to you guys. Just in case you don't want another chapter, I want to HUGELY THANK THESE PEOPLE, THE PEOPLE WHO REVIEWED:**

**Marril96**

**tyrone beard**

**H2OGirl101**

**Majobloem**

**A Red Haired Girl**

**Aiedail-Star**

**1fanofh2o**

**rikki4ever**

**MermaidRaven**

**granloveseat**

**h2o3ever**

**AlyssaHolloway**

**ElenaxoxoSilber**

**AND, thanks to people who put my story on their favs, put me on author alert, and story alert. Thanks a bunch!**

**Also, I want to give a huge thank you to Marril96, who has stuck with me throughout the story, even though some parts were crappy XD. Also a huge thanks to AlyssaHolloway for reviewing a lot and sticking with me :) So here is a final thank-you to all the readers, whether you reviewed or not, or whatever: THANK YOU! So bye, until next story (unless you guys say you want another chapter.) Bye! :)**


	26. Epilogue: Queen at Last

A/N: Hey, guys! Bet you never thought you'd hear from me again! (In this story, obviously.) But I decided to create another chapter of when Avery/Aysel goes back to Moonlight Island when she's twenty and becoming queen. Just a note: Emma never went on her year long cruise and Bella never came. Just for this chapter to work. So thanks to who reviewed my last chapter, and I also need to answer someone's random question they asked me that I forgot to last chapter:

ElenaxoxoSilber: Well, not a sequel, but here's an epilogue chapter. Pointers for first person? I like first person the best because it can really represent what the main character is feeling. Even though in third person omniscient and third limited you do get to see feelings of either the main character or everyone, I like first better because it really goes in depth. So my tip to you is that when you write in first person, you have to really represent a person's emotions, because that is what first is for. You need to pretend you are the person, because you write it like you are. Hope this helps! :)

Epilogue: Queen at Last

"God, that was as horrible as I remember it!" Rikki groaned, literally dragging herself to shore.

"Rikki, come on, don't be lazy!" I cried. I was already standing on the sand in front of the island, crazy happy emotions mixed through me (at least, that was what my fingernail polish told me!)

"Hey, she's not lazy, the trip was just exhausting!" Emma cried. Rikki, Emma and Cleo were all lying with their tails on the sand. Rikki had already steam dried me first, knowing that I would want to be first on the island.

It felt weird to have Emma agree with Rikki. Usually they would occasionally lightly bicker, but never usually agree with each other. But things had changed. They got over their differences, and are at least trying to get along.

"Yeah!" said Cleo, not wanting to get out of the conversation. Cleo had changed, too. It was almost crazy to see the difference between the shy Cleo I had first met to the outgoing Cleo now.

Rikki balled her fist over Emma's tail, and took a few minutes to dry her off. When Emma was on her feet, Rikki dried Cleo, then herself last. When they all had legs, they joined me in looking at the majesty of Moonlight Island.

"Hm," said Rikki. "I feel like I never left this island." Cleo and Emma simultaneously agreed.

"You can say that again," I said, smiling. I was glad it was that way. The only way I coped with going back to Australia was telling myself I'd return sooner or later. And, of course, hanging out with my friends and their boyfriends, and of course, my own boyfriend.

"Hey!" I heard a cry from behind me. We all spun around, and I glimpsed a head with a mass of red hair attached to a tail. "What are you strangers doing on the island? This is a private place!" she yelled in mock anger.

I broke into a smile and ran to her. "Dafina!" I called.

"That's me!" she said, cocking her head to the side. She held out her arms. "Give me a hug, A!"

"Uh, why don't you get dry first?" I asked, motioning to her tail. "_Then_ I'll hug you."

"Touchy," she said, laughing. I laughed along as I motioned for Rikki to dry her off.

Rikki walked over to her and, making sure she didn't get wet, steam dried Dafina. Once she had legs, I hugged her.

She had grown. She looked a lot like I did three years ago, except her hair was longer and curlier. She looked a little taller, too, but she always looked taller than I did when I was her age.

Then Emma, Rikki and Cleo all took turns hugging my little sister. When we were done, we all headed to my house.

OoOoO

"Mom," I said, tears welling up into my eyes. I was then eloped in an enormous hug. When we finally pulled away, I got a good look at her.  
She looked different, but kept her young looking features. Seeing her reminded me of how much I missed her.

Tragically, she was still sitting in a wheelchair. This one looked more permanent than the one she had first gotten. So I guess that could only mean that she was stuck in it. I instantly felt bad.

"I'm glad you're back, Aysel," mom said.

"I'm glad I am, too," I said honestly. I turned to my friends. "Though I will miss you guys."

"We'll miss you too," Cleo said. "But you won't get rid of us that easily."

"Huh?" I said, confused.

"Come on, Aysel, we've swam to and from the island three times now. We know the way," said Cleo.

"So we've decided to visit you at least once a year," Emma said. "Just like Dafina did when you were in Australia."

I looked at Dafina and smiled. It was true. Every year she had came and visited me, with new things and new messages from my mom and Dafina.

During the time at Australia, a lot of things had happened. We had all gotten closer to our boyfriends, and Lewis had even told Emma, Rikki and I that when Cleo got back from the island, he was going to propose to her. Cleo's dad and Mrs. Bishop had actually dated more and more, and ended up marrying each other. I was pretty surprised when that happened, but I was glad it did. She became a _lot_ nicer and Cleo even liked her.

"So, what's been going on here?" I asked. I was instantly curious at what was going on at the island.

My mom pretended to be bored. "Well, you know, same old same old, running the island, each boring day the same..."

Dafina interrupted her. "Feglio proposed to mom."

"And she said yes?" I asked, shocked and squealing with delight.

"No, I was waiting for you to come. I wanted your opinion on it," mom said with a smile.

"Well, duh! You should say yes!" I cried.

She smiled. "That's what Dafina said."

I looked at Dafina, who smiled and winked.

"So in that case, I'll tell him yes tomorrow," she said.

"What's tomorrow?" I asked.

"The day you get crowned queen," mom said, smiling and hugging me.

OoOoO

I adjusted the collar of my white dress. It was hiding my mom's necklace, which I wanted it to be in full view when I was crowned queen. I also had on the bracelet Shane had given me when I had first come back from the island, and a pair of blue earrings the girls and Dafina had given me.

"One minute," a slim girl told me as she skipped along to make sure everything was neat and tidy and just right.

"Okay," I said, finally adjusting the collar one more time to make sure it was noticeable. I then took a deep breath, nervous for my coronation.

When everything was finally ready, I heard the clapping of the audience. "I can do this," I whispered to myself, sort of like a pep talk.

When I stepped out onto a balcony of our islands "city hall," my stomach twisted in knots at the look of all those people. _That_ was all of the people I had to govern? It seemed impossible.

But out of the corner of my eye, I saw mom smiling at my positively. She was part of the ceremony too. Someone was supposed to take the crown off her head and place it on mine. I also saw Rikki, Emma and Cleo trying to jump up and wave to me. I smiled, showing them I saw them. I also saw Dafina in the corner hugging Feglio, who was stroking her hair. Tia was in the middle of the crowd, clapping loudly for me. It was so loud that I blushed.

During the coronation, I had to say a vow that meant I would govern fairly and correctly and always give the people an opinion, or as they put it, a "voice."

When that was over, my mother and I sat side-by-side in these huge chairs. The man who had made me say my vow took the crown off my mother's head, and slowly came over to me. I took a deep breath as he recited that when I received the crown, I was also receiving responsibility. That really hit me: this was the rest of my life. I was going to receive this responsibility, and need to learn to live with it. That thought made me smile.

"Now," boomed the strong voice of the man holding my mother's—erm, I mean _my_—crown. "Presenting Aysel Carol Marie Peacock, queen of Moonlight Island." Then, he placed the crown on my head.

Whistles and cheers from the audience grew, as did my smile. I heard a faint cry of, "Long live Queen Aysel!"

I looked out into the crowd to see that the holler had come from none other than Emma, Cleo and Rikki, all beaming with pride. I shot a smile in their direction.

"Long live Queen Aysel!" an echo shouted across the room. I recognized the voice to be Tia's, who was clapping loudly.

"Long live Queen Aysel!" shouted, this time, Dafina and Feglio. They high-fived each other like old pals.

"Long live Queen Aysel!" the rest of the audience cheered, the clapping never ending. I just smiled wider and soaked it all in. Yep, this was home.

**A/N: I really hoped you enjoyed my story! I thanked the people who reviewed in the last chapter, so I'll thank you all again! Thank you! Oh, and thanks for the people who answered Rikki's Random Question of the Day! I am creating another story, IDK when. I already have the idea for it, and have worked out some details. All I can tell you right now is that it will be a mystery story. So if you love mysteries, my next story will be for you! I'm also hoping for a sequel to that story, so we'll see. Also, I will update H2O: What If? soon. Ciao! **


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